Look After You
by evans516
Summary: Jade Donovan is getting her life together. She has to, given that she was just named guardian of her two siblings after her mom's taken off again. But what happens when her past comes back to haunt her in ways she never even imagined? DamonOC
1. Role Model

**thanks so much for checking out my new story, hope you like it! **

_Role Model_

_3 months ago_

"Hello?" Jade answered her phone sleepily. The twenty-two year old had just finished college, celebrating her graduation the night before which got a little out of hand the blonde realized as she looked around the room, her memory foggy. She wasn't too excited about moving back home soon, but she didn't have the money to live on her own yet. She was starting work in a few weeks as a nurse.

_"Jade? It's Liz Forbes,"_ the sheriff from her home town of Mystic Falls replied. Her tone implied that something was wrong, making Jade sit up alertly.

"What?" Jade asked quickly. "Is it Vicki?" Her younger sister was always getting into trouble, though Jade had been the same when she was in high school. "God, Matty?" Her youngest brother Matt never caused quite the amount of trouble his older sisters did.

_"They're fine,"_ Liz assured her.

"Did something happen to my mom?" Jade asked now, holding much less concern for Kelly than she did for her younger siblings. She had gone to school out of state in Florida to get away from her mother, though she had wanted to take Matt and Vicki with her.

_"I went by the house,"_ Liz was explaining. _"The neighbors were complaining about a party Vicki had."_ Typical, Jade thought to herself. _"Turns out your mother hasn't been living there for months."_

"What?" Jade demanded now. Her mother had just left two teenagers alone? Jade knew she shouldn't be surprised, Kelly had always been a flake. While Jade was still in high school, Kelly would disappear for a weekend with some random guy but it was never more than a few days.

"Wait," Jade was saying now. "They're not getting placed somewhere, are they?" Vicki would be eighteen soon at the end of the summer before her senior year, with Matt turning seventeen soon after. For now though, they were both minors without anyone to take care of them.

_"We've tried contacting your father,"_ Liz started off. Their father, Jade silently corrected. While Vicki and Matt's dad had adopted her when she was four and he had just married her mom, making her an official Donovan, Jade had never even met her own father or seen a picture of him. Kelly only knew his first name, there was no way for Jade to find him, even if she wanted to.

"He's been gone since Matty was five," Jade stopped her now. Jade had been ten, remembering her step-dad as being nothing short of a jerk.

_"Well, that's why we're calling you now,"_ Liz said and Jade felt her jaw drop, completely silent now. _"I know this is a lot to take in, but if you don't want-"_

"No," Jade stopped her now. She couldn't let them take Matt and Vicki away, sending them to foster homes. "No, I'll be on the next flight."

* * *

_Present Day_

Jade woke up that morning, her eyes cloudy with sleep as she blinked at the alarm clock. When she noticed the time, she nearly fell back off of her bed. Had she slept through her alarm? She heard someone downstairs and knew that it would be Matt, there was no way Vicki would be up until Jade dragged her out of bed. After all, it was the first day of school.

"Vicki!" Jade shouted as she ran by, banging on her sister's door before pulling her scrubs top over her head. "C'mon, time for school!" There was some groaning on the other side of the door that Jade couldn't decipher as she ran downstairs, grateful Matt was already awake, ready, and eating breakfast.

"Coffee's on," Matt nodded at the counter from the table where he was eating cereal.

"Thanks," Jade told him, pulling her hair back into a pony tail just for work. "Do you need a ride to school or something?"

"My truck's fixed," Matt told her and she nodded, Vicki dragging her feet into the room now, collapsing onto a seat across from her brother.

"What are you doing?" Jade was asking Vicki who was still in her tank top and pajama pants. "Get dressed."

"Do I have to go?" Vicki was complaining.

"Yes," Jade said in exasperation, still running around the kitchen like her hair was on fire. She was going to be late, that was for sure, and if Vicki kept it up she was going to make her and Matt late for school. Jade felt responsible to make sure they got there on time.

"Go," Matt was insisting as Jade started searching for her other shoe. The house was a mess, but that was what happened when you left two teens and a post grad in charge of the maintaining the house, not that Kelly ever did much better. "Here," he stopped her from rushing around, having found her shoe under the table.

"Thanks Matty," Jade said, taking it and slipping it on before handing him a brown bag from the counter.

"What's this?" he asked with raised eye brows.

"I made you lunch," Jade said, grabbing her keys and bag. She stopped on her way out the door. "You don't pack lunches, do you?" Matt didn't have the heart to tell her he hadn't packed a lunch since the sixth grade.

"No, it's cool," Matt told her, grabbing Vicki's packed lunch now too. "Thanks." With the end of summer came a new set of responsibilities and he could tell she was frazzled. "Go, seriously, you'll be late."

"K, bye!" she called to him. "Good luck." Vicki had returned from upstairs, dressed now for school as she went to get breakfast. She and Jade swapped a quick hug goodbye before Jade went running out the door to her car, surprised to see someone walking up her driveway.

"Sheriff Forbes?" Jade asked as she opened her own car door, throwing her things in. She didn't have the time to stop for their usual chat, with Liz stopping by every so often to check in on them.

"Good morning Jade," Liz greeted her.

"Do you check on the Gilbert kids this much?" Jade asked with raised eyebrows.

The month before her siblings were taken from her mom's custody, Elena and Jeremy had lost their parents to a car accident and were now living with their Aunt Jenna. It was no secret though with Jade's former reputation and Vicki's current one that they probably needed looked in on more, not that Jade appreciated it as she thought she had been doing a good job, just having an off morning now.

"Because you probably should," Jade continued, having an extra bit of salt in her personality right now. The morning events had made her cranky and she didn't appreciate the sheriff taking an interest in checking on the Donovan kids so much when they hadn't done anything wrong. At least, not recently. "Jeremy's been sneaking in and out of here all summer to see Vicki, and you know what they say about her," Jade continued her rant.

"Jade," Liz said seriously.

"I'm late," Jade told her in frustration. "I have bills and kids so can you please..." She didn't know how else to say it. "Just _not_ right now?"

"All right," Liz nodded, going and getting in her own car, leaving the driveway as Vicki and Matt were coming outside.

"What was that?" Matt asked.

"We'll talk about it later," Jade rolled her eyes as she got in, trying to start her car now. When it wouldn't start, a string of profanities flew from Jade's mouth. They had just paid to get Matt's truck fixed and now her car wouldn't start. Unfortunately, they were all working to pay the bills, for the house, the utilities, for food. It didn't help that Jade was starting to get letters about her student loans now. Getting out of the car, Matt was already holding out the keys for her to take.

"If you just wanna take the truck," Vicki was saying. "We'll skip."

"Nice try," Jade commented. "Get in."

* * *

Jade was pretty sure she broke several traffic laws as she drove way over the speed limit and blew through stop signs. She was happy to get her siblings to school on time, though she did have to call work on her way there to say that she was going to be late. Vicki hopped out of the truck without much of a goodbye and Jade noticed the way she was veering to walk towards the back of the school, knowing who she was going to meet and what she was going to be doing.

"Ugh, she's going to kill me," Jade commented of her younger sister and her growing drug problem.

"You turned out ok," Matt commented.

"You're a smart ass," Jade laughed a little now and he smiled at her; it was good to see him smile after a pretty hectic few months. Not only had their mom disappeared and he had a brand new guardian, but Elena had dumped him at the beginning of the summer. "Have a good first day Matty."

"Thanks," Matt told her appreciatively, though he spotted Elena now. Jade's eyes fell on her too. And, while she never had a problem with Elena and always thought she was a really nice girl, she wasn't too happy that she had broken her little brother's heart.

"I could hit her with this," Jade said, patting the steering wheel to show she meant the truck, though that was probably insensitive of her to make that joke; Elena had been in the car when her parents had their accident.

"Ah, pass," Matt said lightly. "Don't need you ending up in jail." He nodded his head side to side as he recalled her teen years, knowing she had gotten busted her fair share of partying. "Again."

"Get _out_!" Jade told him now, though she fought off a laugh.

* * *

As the day went on, things started to go more smoothly. Things were fine at work and, once she was done, she met Matt and Vicki at home since they got rides home with friends. Not long after they got home though, they were out again. She knew the tradition well, there was always a back to school party up at the falls. It looked like Jade was going to have the house to herself, which she was fine with after such a long day, though she was worrying now about her siblings partying. Watching tv alone, she was surprised to hear a knock at the door, especially when it was so late.

"Please don't be Sheriff Forbes," she muttered quietly to herself as she went to open the door. "Please don't..." She stopped as she opened the door, shocked at who was standing there. "Damon?"

"Hey Jade," Damon was smiling at her. She had dated him on and off for awhile when she was in college.

"Damon Salvatore?" Jade said now, shocked that he was standing on her porch right now; they hadn't spoken since they last switched their relationship to off nearly a year ago.

"The one and only," he smirked. "Can I come in?"

"No," Jade said, keeping a grip on the door as she prepared to slam it on his face if necessary; things hadn't ended well. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Well, you said you were from Mystic Falls," Damon reminded her. "And I told you I lived here as a kid." He shrugged. "I'm back now."

"Huh?" Jade asked, completely confused. She never told Damon where exactly she was from, just that she was from Virginia and he said that he was born in a small town there too. That was the extent as she avoided talking about home, especially with guys she was seeing.

"I'm living with my younger brother," Damon continued.

"I'm not doing this," Jade shook her head now, preparing to close the door. Down the street, she could hear someone speeding in their car, feeling her stomach sink when she realized it was Matt's truck screeching to a stop at the end of the driveway.

"Get out of here Damon," Jade told him, pulling the door shut behind her as she rushed off the porch. "Matt, what's going on?"

"It's Vicki," Matt said quickly, having sped the entire way there from the party. "They took her to the hospital-"

"What happened?" Jade asked worriedly.

"She got attacked by some animal in the woods," Matt was starting to explain as Damon was coming over now.

"C'mon," Jade said, getting into the driver's side so she could take them to the hospital.

"Who's that guy?" Matt asked as they peeled out of the driveway, leaving Damon there alone.

"Someone from school," Jade rolled her eyes, her priorities set on getting to the hospital. "Nothing to worry about."

What Jade didn't know was Damon was everything to worry about. While he hadn't known who Vicki was in relation to Jade, he was the one that attacked her sister in the woods. Jade had no idea who Damon really was, or what he was to be specific. He wasn't just some good looking guy who went to school with her, him and his brother were both decades old vampires that had just returned to their original home of Mystic Falls.

* * *

Jade and Matt both sat up through the night, watching Vicki as she rested. While she had lost a lot of blood, the doctors had assured them that she was going to be ok, that she just needed plenty of rest and she could go home tomorrow. Not wanting to leave her though, they both stayed at the hospital so she didn't wake up alone.

"What was she doing tonight?" Jade asked Matt softly, then shook her head at herself. "I'm sorry, that wasn't fair for me to ask you. You're not her babysitter." She sighed, sinking back in her seat. "I am."

"You're doing a good job Jade," Matt promised her. "This was an accident."

"Thanks Matty," Jade half smiled at him, Vicki starting to wake up now. "Vicki! Hey, you're ok."

"J-Jade," Vicki said weakly, looking around. "Matty. I-"

"Shhh," Matt told her now. "Just relax."

"You get to come home tomorrow," Jade told her, then smiled. "I think we can all play hooky, if you want."

"It was a vampire," Vicki said in a near whisper, though there was panic in her voice.

"What?" Jade asked, looking at her brother who shrugged.

"There's vampires Jade," Vicki continued.

"Ok," Jade soothed her, going along with it because she assumed her sister was probably still high or something. "Well, there's none here. Just me and Matty all right?" Vicki kept looking around the room in worry. "Just go back to sleep," Jade assured her, taking her hand. "It's going to be all right."

**thanks for reading! :) really hope you liked it so far, please let me know what you think! :)**


	2. Parenthood

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so glad you liked it, hope you like this update! **

_Parenthood _

The next morning, Jade was taking both Matt and Vicki home after a long night at the hospital. Thankfully, after having been up most of the night, Jade did have that day off from working. After dropping the girls off at home, Matt went into school. Jade had been trying hard not to be over bearing but she had to know what Vicki was getting into. Even if this was just an accident like Matt said, Vicki was spiraling further out of control.

"Hi mom," Jade said, leaving a voice mail as she had sent Vicki upstairs to bed to rest. "Look, I don't know where you are," she started off with an involuntary eye roll, not sure of her mom's current boyfriend's name at the moment; something with a P. "Or, if this is even your number anymore. But, Vicki got attacked by some animal last night. She was in the hospital all night. So..." Jade sighed. "Pretend to be a good mom and call her." As Jade was hanging up, she heard screaming upstairs in Vicki's bedroom.

"Vicki!" Jade was calling, running up the stairs. When she got to her room, Vicki was on her bed, freaking out and screaming. "Vic, hey Vicki," Jade said, climbing onto the bed, trying to get her to calm down. She seemed to be hallucinating, like she was fighting someone.

"The vampire, Jade!" Vicki was screaming. "Make him stop!"

"Hey!" Jade said, pinning her and getting Vicki to look at her for the first time. Vicki finally seemed to calm, at least she stopped fighting her sister though she was looking around the room now with worry. "It's just me," Jade promised her, moving away so Vicki could sit up. "Just me and you."

"What's happening to me?" Vicki whimpered, holding her head as she curled her knees up to her chest.

"You just had a bad dream," Jade was telling her, though it was looking more like a high gone bad. She intended to to root through Vicki's purse the moment she got downstairs, though she hated that thought. "Do you need anything?"

"No," Vicki murmured softly. "Thanks."

"Sure thing," Jade squeezed her hand, getting up to go now. "I'll be downstairs, all right?"

Going to the kitchen now, Jade grabbed Vicki's bag and turned it upside down, the contents spilling over the table. Soon enough, she came across the orange prescription bottle with _percocet_ printed on the label. The name above it though was what surprised her; _Elena Gilbert_. While she knew Elena wouldn't have given her pain killers to Vicki, she could think of one person in the Gilbert house who might.

"Dammit," Jade cursed herself.

She hated that she was doing this, she would be beyond angry if the roles were reversed and she was Vicki. This was what she had to do now. She wasn't just Vicki and Matt's sister anymore, she was their guardian, a fill in mom since theirs couldn't even answer the phone. Placing the pills in her own purse now, intending to go over to the Gilbert house and talk to Jenna, she waited on Matt to get home from school so Vicki wouldn't have to be alone. With it being lunchtime now, she was surprised to hear someone at the door. She now hoped that it wasn't two people; Sheriff Forbes and Damon.

"Hi," the young man on the other side of the door greeted her with a soft smile.

"Um, hi," Jade said. "Do I know you?"

"Oh sorry," he apologized. "My name's Stefan Salvatore, I go to school with Vicki."

"Salvatore?" Jade asked with raised eye brows and he nodded. "You're Damon's brother?"

"You know Damon?" Stefan asked now, with just as much confusion as her.

Stefan had come back to Mystic Falls, hoping to start over as well as get to know Elena. His older brother Damon had shown up in town shortly after, causing nothing but trouble. Since he had been back Vicki was attacked and two different couples had gone missing. With the comet celebration that night, Stefan was almost afraid of what his brother had planned. He was at the house now because he was hoping to compel Vicki to forget about the whole ordeal with Damon.

"Ah, yeah," Jade shook her head. "Long story." She half smiled at Stefan. "I'm sorry, do you wanna come in?"

"I just wanted to check on her during lunch," Stefan lied as Jade let him into the house. "Bring her the first part of her assignments."

"Oh, that's really nice of you," Jade told him. "I think she's still awake, if you wanna go up. Last door on the left."

"Thanks," Stefan told her, going upstairs to take care of what his brother got them into. Shortly after Stefan arrived, Matt returned home as well, saying he was too worried about Vicki.

"I think you just missed your friend," Jade commented, hearing the front door open and close again. She thought that it was odd that Stefan didn't say goodbye, but he seemed quiet.

"Who?" Matt asked curiously.

"Stefan," Jade answered and she noticed Matt's expression. "So, not your friend?"

"Elena's been hanging out with him," Matt explained.

"Well, we hate him then," Jade smiled and Matt shook his head but laughed. "Listen, since you're here, do you mind staying with Vicki? I need to go talk to Jenna."

"Yeah sure," Matt nodded. "No problem."

"Thanks Matt," Jade told him, getting her keys and leaving the house.

* * *

Jade didn't even know what to say to Jenna as she pulled up to the house, glad to see her car outside. She knew that Jenna was in a similar boat, having to take care of two teenagers and having no idea what she was doing. She didn't think that this was Jenna's fault at all, but she knew the news wasn't going to make her feel any better.

"Hey!" Jenna grinned when she answered the door. Kelly has used to babysit Jenna and then, when Jenna was old enough, she was babysitting Jade. "Come in, what are you doing here?"

"I really need to talk to you," Jade was saying as she followed Jenna to the kitchen, her school stuff all over the kitchen table.

"Well, I'm happy for the interruption," Jenna smiled at her, motioning for her to sit at the table with her. "Because this thesis really-"

"Jeremy's dealing to Vicki," Jade blurted out; Jenna looked at her with shock.

"What?" Jenna asked her and Jade handed her the bottle.

"I found this in Vicki's stuff," Jade explained. "She's been having these crazy hallucinations the last few days." Jenna sighed as she looked at the bottle. "And, trust me, I know Vicki's not the greatest influence either. But-"

"No, I know," Jenna stopped her. "I'll deal with Jeremy when he gets home." She rattled the bottle. "Thanks for telling me." Jade made a face.

"Parenthood sucks," Jade commented.

"Ugh, it really does," Jenna groaned, taking her head in her hands.

* * *

When Jade got home from the Gilberts', Vicki was up and acting more like her old self. Jade was happy when she heard Vicki around the house, talking to Matt about having plans that night for the comet celebration. Jade wanted to talk to her about the pills, but she wanted to wait until Matt wasn't around so they could talk alone. Unfortunately, Vicki came across her purse to look for her pills and couldn't find them.

"Jade!" Vicki shouted. "Did you go through my stuff?"

"Vic," Jade said, coming downstairs now. "I-"

"I can't believe that you would invade my privacy like that!" Vicki was arguing with her.

"I wouldn't have to if you wouldn't come home strung out and hallucinating about vampires," Jade snapped back.

"That is so unfair," Vicki said now. "You've stumbled into this house drunk or high, like, a hundred times."

"Yeah, well I didn't have anyone that cared what I did or when I came home," Jade argued.

"Whatever," Vicki rolled her eyes now. "I'm so out of here."

"Vicki-"

"I'm eighteen, you can't tell me what to do!" Vicki shouted at her before slamming the front door shut. Jade groaned, turning around and spotting Matt, who had come out to break up the fight before Vicki stormed off.

"Should we go after her?" Matt asked.

"It'll only make piss her off more," Jade shook her head, knowing her sister was like her and would need to cool off. "We'll just catch up with her tonight."

* * *

Leaving the car, Jade and Matt walked into town to the comet celebration. They got there after nightfall, with most people gathered in the grass of the town square with their candles, looking up at the comet. Jade immediately spotted Elena talking with Stefan and she hoped Matt didn't notice. His other friends though, Caroline, Bonnie, and Tyler, were all over in that direction as well.

"Do you see Vicki with them?" Matt asked, looking around that area.

"No," Jade sighed. "Look, you go hang out with your friends. I can track down Vicki."

"I don't know," Matt said, still looking around the crowd.

"I do," Jade said, getting him to look at her. "You're seventeen Matty, go have fun." She motioned to herself. "Let me do the worried adult thing."

"You're twenty-two Jay," Matt said, using the name he gave her as a kid when he couldn't pronounce his D's very well. He meant that Jade was still too young to be worried about all the adult things on her plate, that he saw how hard it was for her and he felt bad, not that he could help what his mother had done.

"Yeah well, your sister makes me feel about forty sometimes," Jade replied.

"_My_ sister?" Matt half laughed and she smiled.

"Times like these, I call the half," Jade joked. "Go, have fun. I'll text you when I find her."

"K," Matt nodded, heading over to where his friends were.

Spotting Damon on the outer edge of the crowd, Jade turned and walked the other way. Wondering if Vicki was seeing people from work, Jade headed over towards the Mystic Grille. She noticed some of her friends from high school, her best friends Lucy Fell and Kat Forbes being among them. She had been home for three months and only got to hang out with them a few times, working a lot though since she had school payments as well as a house now.

"Avoiding me?" Damon asked, appearing out of no where and making Jade jump a little. He was always good at doing that and Jade didn't know how he always managed to sneak up on her.

"I'm not doing a very good job apparently," Jade rolled her eyes, continuing to walk along the sidewalk in search for her sister, with Damon falling in step beside her.

"You're missing the comet," he commented casually, not that he cared about it.

"I'm currently missing a sibling," Jade said without amusement, walking into the grille and looking around at the people in there. Nothing. Sighing, she went back outside and Damon continued to follow her.

"That's not her?" Damon nodded at Caroline who was busy talking to Matt and Bonnie about something. He, of course, knew who her sister was ever since he had discovered she was the one he attacked the night of the falls party. He wanted to track her down, not just to help Jade, but to make sure Stefan's compulsion had worked.

"No," Jade continued, picking up her pace a little.

"I just assumed," Damon went up, keeping up with her. "She's with your brother, and." He made a motion at his head. "The hair."

"Yeah, I'm related to all the blondes in Mystic Falls," Jade rolled her eyes, frustrated now that she wasn't finding Vicki and that Damon was still following her. She stopped abruptly, turning to him. "What are you doing Damon?"

"Helping you find your sister," Damon shrugged now. "Vicki, right?"

"I don't want your help," Jade snapped at him. "I don't want to talk or...pretend to be friends, or whatever you're doing," she said, waving him off. "Just leave me alone." She walked away, deciding to try to call Jeremy in case he knew where she was. She had seen Tyler, the guy Vicki really liked, but he was with a few other girls and Jade knew he didn't actually care where she was.

"Hey," Matt said and Damon turned to look at him. "Look man, I don't know how you know my sister-"

"I've slept with her," Damon answered with a smirk and Matt tried to ignore it.

"She doesn't seem to want you around," Matt went on. "You need to leave her alone."

"Aw," Damon said now. "Protective little brother, how cute." Matt opened his mouth to say something but Damon stopped him right away. "Relax, I'm not going hurt your sister." It was never his intent to hurt Jade, though as Stefan said, wherever he went people got hurt. Matt turned to say something again as Damon walked away but he had already managed to disappear in the crowd.

* * *

Matt and his friends now had split up to aid in the search for Vicki now that he was getting even more worried, with Vicki missing now since the afternoon. Stefan had joined in on the search, hearing Vicki's voice in the distance. Damon was with her, on the roof of some building a few streets over from the town square. Stefan hurried up there, afraid Damon was going to hurt her. Now that Damon had found her though, he was in the middle of compelling her to forget about vampires entirely. When Damon looked over at Stefan, he kind of expected him to be surprised but instead he had a smirk on his face.

"What?" Damon asked his brother, standing up while Vicki was still sitting on the ground, gathering her spinning thoughts. Where was she and who were these guys?

"Was this for Jade?" Stefan asked him, curious who this girl was to his brother. She obviously meant a lot, as Stefan would normally expect Damon to kill this girl or try to get Stefan to do it. Instead he was getting her to forget about vampires.

"Do you know my sister?" Vicki asked now, still disoriented.

"I'm a friend of hers," Damon told her as Vicki got up now. "You've been wandering around lost and we're going to go find her."

"She must be important," Stefan commented as Damon was walking away now with Vicki.

Stefan always expected worse from Damon, not that there weren't already four people killed in alleged animal attacks. Vicki was almost the fifth and Stefan was sure Damon would find this girl and kill her anyway, finishing what he started. It was very unlike Damon to let someone go and forget, especially when he was trying to cause trouble for Stefan. Whoever Jade was or what she meant to Damon, Stefan was grateful for her because there was no way for Damon to expose Stefan without exposing himself as a vampire, which Jade obviously didn't know about.

* * *

"Jade!" Vicki shouted as the crowd at the celebration had thinned out, getting her sister's attention.

"Hey," Jade said in surprise, glad she had found her sister, though she wasn't too thrilled about who she was with.

"I'm so sorry," Vicki was telling her now, Matt coming over now that he had seen them outside the grille. "I took these pills and I...I don't know how I ended up here."

"You're..." Jade meant to question the apology, but stopped herself. It wasn't like Vicki to genuinely apologize about worrying her sister. Normally she would show up still high and mutter something half ass about how it wouldn't happen again. Damon, of course, had been the one to tell Vicki to apologize. "You're ok," Jade said now. "And that's what matters."

"Your friend Damon found me," Vicki grinned, nodding over to where the older Salvatore was standing; Damon half waved to Jade. "He's really cute," Vicki lowered her voice. "How do you know him?"

"Ah, not important," Jade shook her head at her sister. "Let's just get you home, all right?"

**thanks for reading! :) really hope you liked it, please let me know what you thought! :)**


	3. Persistence

**thanks so much for the reviews, favorites, and follows! and thanks for following/favoriting me! really glad you liked it! hope you like this :) **

_Persistence_

Jade watched the news that morning on tv in the break room at work, grateful they had caught the animal responsible for the recent attacks. After the attack on Vicki, there was another attack that resulted in the death of Matt's football coach, Mr. Tanner. She had no idea how a mountain lion had gotten into town, but she didn't care as long as it was over. Finishing her food, she headed back out onto the floor for the rest of her afternoon shift. Opening the door to the break room though, she jumped back when she saw who was on the hall.

"Oh, told you she was back here," her friend from work, Annette, was telling Damon before going into the break room. Jade rolled her eyes at Damon.

"Showing up where I work, really?" she asked, walking down the hall to the nurses' station.

"That's all you do anymore I hear," he commented, walking alongside her.

"I have kids now Damon," she muttered to herself, finding herself to be the only one at the desk now, beginning to sort through the charts left there. She had hoped that mentioning she was now the guardian to two teens over and over would drive him away; any other guy would have left, right? But there Damon was, continuing to ask her out any time he saw her.

"Very admirable," Damon commented, leaning against the counter and watching her. "But, I think you deserve a night off."

"Some people would call this stalking," Jade smirked at him.

"Other people would call it persistence," Damon said back, matching her smirk.

"Well, I'm not falling for it," Jade said without amusement.

"Come to the Founder's Party with me tomorrow," Damon told her now and she gave him a look.

"Seriously?" Jade laughed, raising her eye brows and he shrugged. "Do you know who you're talking to?"

"We'll get dressed up, drink, dance," Damon listed off. "It'll be fun."

"Or painful," Jade commented now.

"Jade," Damon really got her attention now, looking into her eyes. He had never told her he was a vampire, but he had never compelled her either; he never wanted it to be forced. "I am really sorry, I'm trying to make up for it."

"You're going to have to do better than the mayor's party," Jade told him, walking off now.

* * *

_Flashback_

Jade was with some of her friends at college, hanging out at a bar after the football team's latest victory. Her best friend from high school, Lucy Fell, came down to Florida to visit her, both girls currently in their sophomore year of college. Though both were too young to drink still at age twenty, they had fake IDs since they were in high school.

"Wait, wait, wait," Lucy was laughing, both girls sitting at the end of the bar, having just taken shots. "You've been hanging out with Mason Lockwood?"

"Yeah," Jade shrugged.

"Hot Mason?" Lucy said and Jade laughed.

"We've got to get a new name for him," Jade giggled, sipping her drink; they had referred to Mason Lockwood as_ Hot Mason_ when they were in the ninth grade, hanging out with seniors who Mason bought beer for.

"Jade's Mason," Lucy said suggestively.

"Ew Lucy," Jade shook her head at her. "He's, like, thirty."

"Twenty-eight," Lucy corrected her.

"That's still too old for me," Jade told her.

"Not for the girl on your ID," Lucy said, making her laugh. "C'mon, he's a babe! And spending all this time with you since you've moved here."

"He's just helping me adjust," Jade shrugged. "Since we're both from Mystic Falls." She rolled her hazel eyes now. "Said he was worried about me or something. I don't know, it was very big brother-y."

"Oh," Lucy made a face now, brushing her dark hair off her shoulder, her green eyes falling back on a guy she had been keeping an eye on all night. "Well, this guy coming over looks age appropriate."

"What?" Jade asked, starting to turn.

"Don't look," Lucy stopped her. "Tall, dark hair. I think blue eyes." She smiled. "He's been checking you out all night."

"Please don't do that _thing_," Jade was telling her.

"Oh my God, I totally forgot," Lucy said, hopping off her seat and grabbing her clutch. "I have that thing with that guy-"

"At that place?" Jade said sarcastically, feeling the guy standing next to her.

"Yeah, my favorite place," Lucy grinned at her. "So, I will just see you in the morning. Have fun!" She finished her sentence, taking off abruptly.

"Well, she's painfully obvious," Damon commented, taking the seat Lucy had been sitting in.

"She thinks she's helping," Jade laughed. "I'm Jade."

"Damon," he introduced himself to her. This girl was different, he knew that right away. At first, he had been checking out her friend, intending to get her home and feed before compelling her to forget. Then, he caught sight of Jade and couldn't take his eyes off her. It was unlike him, he knew that. And that was why he had to go over and talk to her.

* * *

"Hellooo, Jade," Vicki interrupted her train of thought, her tone a bit annoyed. Jade was currently sitting in the middle of her sister's bed after her shift at the hospital. Vicki got Tyler to invite her to the party tomorrow and was now trying on all the dresses she and her sister owned until she found the perfect look. It made Jade sad because Vicki seemed to think that Tyler was going to introduce her to his parents, to show her off as his girlfriend, but Jade knew better about guys like Tyler.

"Hm?" Jade asked, focusing now after her day dreamed memories about Damon.

"What do you think of this one?" Vicki asked, standing in front of her sister in a yellow dress.

"It's really pretty," Jade nodded.

"Is it meet Mr. and Mrs. Mayor pretty?" Vicki asked, looking herself over in the full length mirror.

"Oh, way too pretty for the mayor's son," Jade half smiled and Vicki smiled at her reflection. "Are you sure you want to go to this?" Jade asked now. She had dated guys like this, they never wanted to bring her around their parents. She knew the same thing was going to happen to Vicki, she had seen Tyler ignore her if he was at the grille with his parents. She didn't want her sister to get hurt.

"Yessss," Vicki insisted. "You should come."

"I don't have a date," Jade told her.

"Go alone," Vicki shrugged.

"Dateless, non-founding family member?" Jade half laughed. "I'll pass."

"Bring Matty," Vicki offered now.

"He's working this weekend," Jade reminded her and Vicki got that grin on her face.

"You should go with Damon," Vicki told her and Jade rolled her eyes. "What? He's cute and he's so into you."

"There's more to it than being cute," Jade informed her.

"What happened with you two?" Vicki asked.

"It's nothing," Jade shook her head and Vicki gave her an expecting look, sitting on the bed next to her sister and waiting for an answer. "He disappeared," Jade sighed.

"What do you mean disappeared?" Vicki asked now.

"It was..." Jade didn't know how to word it. "Like dad." Vicki looked at her curiously. "I woke up and he was gone, all his stuff too." She shrugged at the memory of her step father. "I don't need another guy like that in my life." Her own dad was MIA, though to be fair he might not even have known about her. Then, her step dad left. Her mom wasn't a guy, but she had walked out too.

"Well," Vicki tried to reason now. "Maybe Damon had a really good reason."

"Please," Jade scoffed, getting up and going to Vicki's dresser now. "How are you going to do your make up?" she changed the subject.

"Dad never came back," Vicki pointed out, coming over now. "He was never sorry."

"I think," Jade continued on her subject change. "That you should stick to your normal make up. But, you should straighten your hair." Vicki rolled her eyes, but went with her sister anyway on this.

"Would you please come?" Vicki practically begged.

"I don't want to third wheel it in the corner," Jade told her.

"Then bring Lucy's brother," Vicki said, knowing they had a fling in high school. "Anybody, I'm just so nervous." She pouted. "Please be my back up."

"Ugh, Vic," Jade complained as her sister made a pathetic face. "Fine, fine, I'll go." She made a face. "But, Eric Fell, are you kidding?"

"He's cute," Vicki grinned again. "And, I bet really sorry too."

"He's not the one that has to be sorry," Jade laughed, making her sister laugh now too.

* * *

The next day, Vicki and Jade went to the party together after dropping Matt off at work, with Jade's car still not fixed. Vicki was wearing her yellow dress and Jade was wearing a similar one, though hers was a turquoise color. There was a long line leading up to the house, where people were waiting to greet the mayor before going into the party. Vicki kept glancing up at the stairs where Tyler stood next to his parents. While she smiled at him, he looked increasingly nervous to see her there, though he finally came down the steps to talk to her. Jade would be pleasantly surprised if he brought her up to the front of the line to see his parents.

"Hey Vic," Tyler greeted her, giving her a quick hug while she kissed his cheek. "Jade," he nodded at her. "You guys wanna go around this way?" Shocking, Jade thought to herself. He wanted to pull them from the line completely, taking them around the back of the house to the party.

"Why?" Vicki asked.

"This is gonna take forever," Tyler shrugged. "Party and food are around this way."

"I'm gonna wait," Jade told him. "I'll say hello to your parents." She looked to her sister. "You can wait with me if you want." Jade would love for Vicki to just show Tyler, to wait and talk to his parents even if he didn't want her to. She didn't want to see her sister get treated like trash.

"No, it's ok," Vicki nodded back at Tyler. "I wanna get to the party." She half smiled. "See you in there?"

"Mhmm," Jade nodded, watching her sister go, getting pulled to the back yard by Tyler, far from his parents' sight. "God, I'm gonna kill that kid," Jade muttered to herself.

"Mayor's kid?" Damon asked, appearing at her side.

"Would you stop doing that?" Jade asked in annoyance, continuing through the line.

"I thought you wouldn't be caught dead at this thing," Damon reminded her.

"Well, now that my date's ditched me," Jade rolled her eyes, looking in the direction her sister had left. "I'm wishing I hadn't come."

"Too bad you don't have a spare date just waiting around," Damon smiled at her.

"Persistence?" Jade asked, getting closer to the steps now; Damon just nodded. "What are you doing at this thing anyway?"

"Founding family," Damon shrugged. "It's pretty much a requirement."

"Oh, I forgot," Jade nodded. She knew that the Salvatores were a founding family in Mystic Falls, not that many of them were ever around. When she had met Damon in Florida, she had never really made the connection, since the only Salvatore she knew of graduated a few years ahead of her, Zach.

"Just give me this date," Damon told Jade now. "If you want me to leave you alone after this, I will."

"Fine," Jade finally agreed, willing to take the chance she still wouldn't want to see him and he would have to leave her alone after.

"Jade," the mayor smiled at her. Jade remembered her mom never really liking the Lockwoods, but Richard was always really nice to her. She figured Kelly probably didn't like the mayor's wife, Carol, who was known to be snobby. "Glad you made it, is Matt with you?" He knew her brother mostly through football and his friendship with Tyler.

"He had to work," Jade told him and he nodded.

"How's your mom?" he asked now. "Have you heard from her?"

"No," Jade shook her head. "Nothing really."

"Is this your date?" Carol asked now.

"Oh, right," Jade said now. "Um, this is Damon Salvatore."

"Related to the founding Salvatores?" Richard asked now.

"Even named for them," Damon nodded with a smile.

"Well, why don't you both go in and have fun," Richard invited them into the house.

"It was nice of you to introduce us to your date," Carol commented, and Jade knew she was talking about Vicki.

"Yeah," Jade nodded with a fake smile. "You know, that's quite the son you have there."

"We're very proud," Carol nodded back, her smile equally as fake.

"He's not too big on introductions though," Jade agreed. "Or, goodbyes even." She lowered her voice. "You know, when he thinks I don't hear him sneaking out of my house."

"Let's go inside," Damon said now, taking Jade's arm and leading her into the house. Jade jerked her arm away, still annoyed with Carol and her comments; no wonder Kelly hated her. "You know how pretty you are when you're mad?" Damon smirked. He wasn't lying, he found it incredibly sexy when Jade was angry, the gold flecks in her hazel eyes seeming to shine brighter. Too bad she was often mad at him.

"Seriously?" Jade asked now.

"Too much," Damon agreed, getting her to smile a bit. "Hey, come on," he insisted now as her smile faded. "Let's have fun, all right?" He nodded back at the door to Carol. "Forget about her."

"Hey Jade," Elena smiled, coming into the party now with Damon's brother Stefan.

"Hi Elena," Jade said back, then looked at Stefan. "Hey Stefan."

"Hi," Stefan greeted her politely, still uneasy around his brother. Just because Damon was being careful to cover his tracks now so he could see Jade didn't mean he wasn't still tormenting Stefan and trying to ruin what he had with Elena. "You're here together?"

"My other date bailed on me," Jade said lightly. "Actually, I wanna go check on Vicki. I'll be right back." She smiled. "It was nice seeing you Elena."

"You too," Elena said, watching her go, wondering how Matt's sister knew Damon.

* * *

_Flashback_

"I have to study Damon," Jade was giggling as he kept her close, the sheets wrapped around them. It was the start of her senior year of college and she had her first round of exams coming up. Damon had come for the weekend, staying in her on campus apartment with her, her roommates both gone.

"You're smart," Damon smiled at her, kissing her once as he held himself over her now. "You'll be fine."

"Damon," she protested, though she loved each kiss he placed along her skin.

"Stay with me," he insisted, kissing her lips again.

"Mmmm," she acted like she was thinking about it. "Ok," she grinned, rolling him over so she was sitting on him, leaning down to kiss him now.

* * *

"Hey," Damon came over now where Jade was out back at the party. They had been having fun at the party and Damon was happy to see her smiling, though she kept wanting to check on her sister. Right now, Jade was watching her sister sitting off in the dark with Tyler, who kept her from the party all together. "Got you a drink," Damon said, handing her champagne.

"Thanks," Jade half smiled, taking a sip.

"You wanna dance?" Damon offered.

"_You_ want to dance?" Jade laughed, setting her drink down.

"I wanna dance with you," Damon told her.

"I forgot you do that," Jade told him as she let him take her hand and lead her out to the dance floor.

"What's that?" Damon asked now.

"Make cheesy lines sound good," Jade laughed and he smiled at her. Jade looked past his shoulder at Vicki who was trying to get Tyler to come up to the party with her, but he kept pulling his hand away, not letting himself get brought up there.

"Hey," Damon stopped Jade, getting her to look at him. "If she's anything like you, she won't take his crap."

"She's more like my mom unfortunately," Jade commented, looking back to her sister now. Surprisingly, Vicki was storming off, leaving Tyler alone. "Damon," Jade stopped dancing now. "I'm really sorry, I just..."

"Go check on your sister," Damon told her.

"Thanks," Jade told him. She turned to go, but then stopped. "But, um, we should try this again," she offered. She was having fun that night with him, she would be lying if she said she wasn't. She had missed him a lot since they had split up. It was going to take more than being sorry though to make it up to her, though it looked like he was trying really hard.

"Looking forward to it," Damon smiled at her, watching her leave.

**thanks for reading! :) really hope you liked it, please let me know what you thought! more soon! :)**


	4. Exposed

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_Exposed_

It had been a week since the Founder's Party. Damon came around now and then, but he wasn't pestering Jade like he had been before. She wondered if it was just because she was happier he was around these days, not seeing it as being annoying. They hadn't gone out since the party, but he did stop by to see her every so often, even bringing flowers to her at work. Matt was still wary of Damon, worried about his sister while Vicki was thrilled Jade was seeming to give Damon a shot. That night, with both Matt and Vicki working, Jade thought that it might have been Damon at the door.

"Oh, hey Elena," Jade smiled politely. She found herself almost wishing it was Damon, like when he used to come surprise her at school. It was amazing how quickly he started having this effect on her again after she started letting him back into her life. "Matty's at work," Jade said, assuming Elena was here for him since they were still friends after their break up.

"I didn't want to see Matt," Elena started off.

"Oh, well Vicki's working too," Jade laughed now. "So, Jeremy's probably waiting around the grille for her." She didn't think it was a secret that Vicki and Jeremy were sneaking back and forth between each other's houses. It was just like how it wasn't a secret to Jade and Matt that, even after Vicki's incident, she was still using.

"What?" Elena asked in confusion, not knowing about Vicki and Jeremy. "No, I um, wanted to talk to you. If that's ok?"

"Oh," Jade nodded, letting her in now. "Sure, what's up?"

"How well do you know Damon?" Elena asked curiously, following Jade to sit on the couch. She had suspicions about the Salvatore brothers for days, but it was hard to believe that any of them were true; she thought she might actually be losing it.

"Um," Jade laughed a little. "We dated on and off for about two years while I was in school, down in Florida." She looked at Elena curiously. "Why?"

"What do you know about his relationship with Stefan?" Elena asked now, not sure why Damon was always trying to stir things up between them.

"Not much," Jade shrugged. "Just that they have issues." She motioned around. "Given my own issues, I never really asked." Elena nodded.

"Do you remember those stories you used to tell me and Matt?" Elena asked. Being five years older, Jade was left to babysit Elena, Matt, and Vicki a lot. It was never really her choosing, it was more that it was supposed to be Kelly's job but she either bailed or passed out.

"Kinda," Jade nodded. Kelly and Miranda had told the stories to Jenna, who then told them to Jade, who told Matt and Elena. They were stories about vampires, monsters hiding in the dark. She had used the stories mostly to scare the kids into going to bed, saying she'd let the vampires get them if they misbehaved.

"It's just...with what's been happening, I didn't know..."

"What, the mountain lion attacks?" Jade asked curiously. Did Elena actually think there were vampires? Vicki had said something about a vampire when she was attacked. "Are you smoking something with my sister?"

"Can I show you something?" Elena asked back, taking a few print out pictures from her bag that she got from the town's news archives.

* * *

"This is going to be hard to explain," Damon grumbled to himself as Vicki was laying on his couch the next morning.

He had a fight with Stefan earlier in the night, about Jade and Elena, how him keeping the secret from Jade was completely different when in the grand scheme of things it wasn't. He went out intending to prove a point, that he loved being a vampire, that he wasn't ashamed of what he was. In the way that he normally proved points to Stefan, it was through terror and he set out to the cemetery, killing a few local people that had been hanging out and getting high. In his frenzy, he didn't notice that he had attacked Vicki.

She was laying there on the ground, near death from losing so much blood. He did the only thing he could think to do and that was feed her his blood to heal her. Unfortunately, she died anyway. With vampire blood in her system, she was going to come back. She was going to be in transition and would need to feed on human blood to survive. For his purposes, it probably would have just been easier to let Vicki die; it would have helped in keeping the secret. She was Jade's little sister though, it would devastate her, and he wasn't going to let that happen.

"What's happening to me?" Vicki asked, sitting up slowly, her memory hazy.

"Well-"

"I wanna go home," Vicki stopped him, getting upset now. "I want Jade." She felt sick, like she had taken the wrong combination of drugs last night at the cemetery. Jade might be mad at her, but she was always good at making it better when Vicki took things too far.

"Yeah," Damon sighed, helping her to her feet now. "All right."

* * *

"Jay," Matt was trying to shake her awake the next morning.

She had fallen asleep on the couch, the tv still on after her weird conversation with Elena. She brushed it off as being a coincidence. Elena was convinced the Salvatore brothers were vampires, showing Jade a picture of the registry from the first Founder's party with their names on it, as well as a picture of Stefan in the 1950s. Jade wrote it off as them being named after the original founding family members and the fact that family members looked a lot alike. Elena brought up the attacks, how Vicki was only bitten on her neck, how the victims of the alleged animal attacks died from being drained of their blood. Jade wouldn't believe it though and told Elena she was turning into Caroline by reading too much _Twilight_.

"Hey, wake up," Matt said to her now.

"Hm?" Jade grumbled, rubbing her eyes.

"Vicki's not in her room," Matt told her.

"So?" Jade complained, falling back onto the couch. "She probably stayed with Jeremy last night."

"Yeah?" Matt asked sarcastically, turning up the volume on the tv. Logan Fell was on there reporting about an incident last night in the cemetery, that there was a drug deal that had gone wrong.

"Oh my God," Jade jumped up, hearing a knock at the door now as she got off the couch. Going over to answer the door, she saw Damon and Vicki there. "What happened to you?" she asked her sister.

"I don't know," she whimpered, coming into the house now. Things were starting to come back to her, but they were too crazy to be true; she had to be high, otherwise that meant that Damon, the guy she had been pushing her sister to take back, was the one that had attacked her and everyone else that had died recently.

"What did you take?" Jade asked, trying to look at her sister's eyes.

"I don't know!" Vicki started yelling now, freaking out. "Just stop yelling at me! Ok?!" She took off upstairs to go to her room, leaving Jade and Matt looking at Damon.

"I found her wandering in the woods by my house," Damon lied. "She seemed really out of it again." He was waiting outside the door respectfully, but Jade had already let him in once when he came to see her during the week after the Founder's party.

"Can you go talk to Jeremy?" Jade turned to Matt now.

"Why?" Matt asked in confusion.

"Because whatever pills she's been taking, she's gotten them from him before," Jade reminded him. "Just go see what she's on, so I know if I have to take her to the hospital."

"Ok," Matt agreed, going and leaving his sister alone with Damon. Damon didn't like how Jade was looking at him, like she knew something. Had she figured it out?

"Can I come in?" Damon asked her and she shook her head.

"Not right now Damon," Jade said softly. "I need to check on my sister." She went to close the door, but stopped. "The last two times she's gotten in trouble, you've been around to find her," she commented. She didn't wait for an answer as she shut the door on him. Going upstairs now, she went down the hall to see her sister sitting on her bed and holding her head.

"I screwed up," Vicki was murmuring as Jade sat down. "I screwed up, I always screw up!"

"It's ok Vic," Jade promised her.

"I shouldn't have gone to the cemetery last night," Vicki was continuing. "I shouldn't..." The more she thought about last night, it all came back. It wasn't just last night she was remembering, but she remembered the first attack at the falls party, she remember Damon and Stefan telling her to forget.

"Vicki, seriously it's fine," Jade assured her. "Just tell me what you took."

"I don't want you to go out with Damon anymore," Vicki told her quickly.

"What does he have to do with..." Jade let herself trail off. "Did he give you something?"

"No!" Vicki was freaking out now. "No, he's the one that attacked me!"

"That was a mountain lion," Jade said, not sure what was going on.

"Do I look like I got mauled by a mountain lion Jade?!" Vicki snapped at her, getting up from her bed now. "It was a vampire, I told you!" Her eyes were tearing up. "You didn't believe me, you just thought I was strung out."

"Vic-"

"Then him and his brother made me forget," Vicki continued, pacing her room. "Last night, Damon attacked my friends! He killed my friends!"

"They said that was a drug deal," Jade shook her head in disbelief.

"Why don't you believe me?!" Vicki screamed. "Why don't you _ever_ believe me?"

"Vicki, sit," Jade forced her to sit next to her on the bed again, taking Vicki by her shoulders. "We can talk about it, ok? Just relax and-"

"Stop yelling so much," Vicki seemed to panic, knocking Jade's hands away so she could cover her ears. "There's so much noise, I-"

"Ok," Jade nodded sympathetically, taking Vicki's hands. "Ok, I won't be as loud." Whatever was going on with her sister, she knew she had to go along with it. "What else hurts?"

"My gums," Vicki told her. "There's something wrong with my teeth. And..." She trailed off, looking at her sister. "What's that noise?"

"What noise?" Jade asked curiously.

"I..." Vicki shook her head. "I can hear your heart." The more she heard, the more she craved blood.

"Vicki," Jade said, seeing her eyes becoming bloodshot, the veins near her eyes turning black. Jade got up to run, planning to get help. Vicki ran up behind her though, knocking her to the ground. Vicki and Jade were always the same size, so Jade wondered how Vicki got so freakishly strong out of now where, pinning her to the floor.

"I can't help it," she heard Vicki saying as they were fighting against each other. "I can't...I..." Giving in, Vicki leaned over and bit into her sister's neck.

"AHHH!" Jade screamed, trying to push her sister off but it wasn't working.

"Vicki, no!" she heard Damon yelling, him and Stefan running in to pull her off of Jade. Jade scrambled to sit up right, moving back into a corner. Elena was there, kneeling next to Jade and asking if she was ok. Everything sounded far off, nothing seemed real to her right now.

"I'm so sorry Jade!" Vicki was crying now, her emotions uncontrollable as Stefan kept holding her back. Elena moved for Damon, who reached for Jade now.

"Don't touch me," Jade told him, placing a hand over her neck, wincing as she touched it.

"The stuff we talked about last night," Elena was saying gently. "It's-"

"Please stop talking," Jade shook her head.

None of this was real, it couldn't be. Vampires weren't real, they were a made up scary story people told around campfires and told to kids they were babysitting. She didn't spend two years dating a vampire, falling in love with one. Her sister wasn't turning into one now, she hadn't just bit Jade and drank her blood. This was all some kind of sick and twisted dream that she hoped she woke up from soon.

"Get out," Jade was saying now. "Everyone, just get out."

"Jade," Damon said as she was getting up now. "You have to let me explain."

"I don't have to do any-"

"Jay! Vic!" Matt was calling from downstairs. "I'm home!"

**thanks for reading! :) really hope you liked it, more soon! :) please let me know what you thought!  
HAPPY NEW YEAR! **


	5. Answers

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_Answers_

"Let go of me!" Jade protested as Damon dragged her into the bathroom, moving faster than she thought was possible. She heard Matt coming up the stairs now, going into Vicki's room where she was with Elena and Stefan still, having cleaned the blood from her mouth but there was still blood on the floor. She could hear Matt demanding to know what happened and Stefan lied, saying Vicki and Jade got in a fight, which ended with Vicki punching her sister in the mouth.

"All that panic and fear you have right now," Damon explained, keeping his voice low. "Do you want Matt to have that too?" Jade opened her mouth to protest, but stopped. No, she didn't want Matt to know about this, what was going on with Vicki; at least, not until she knew what was going on herself. "I can explain everything," Damon continued. "I can help your sister, but you have to trust me."

"Seriously?" Jade asked sarcastically. Damon bit into his skin before offering her his wrist. "What the hell do you want me to-"

"This will heal your neck," Damon explained.

"That's so gross," Jade protested.

"Jay," Matt knocked on the door, finding it to be locked.

"Um, just a sec," Jade said and Damon shrugged; she made a face before drinking from his wrist, the wound on her neck healing. Grabbing a tissue, she wiped the rest of her blood away before letting her brother in.

"What happened?" Matt asked her now for her version of the story.

"I don't know what Vicki's on," Jade continued with the lie. "But, um, we got into a fight. She...busted my lip."

"It looks ok now," Matt commented, checking her face.

"Yeah, just...the blood made it look worse than it was," Jade brushed it off and Matt nodded, looking at Damon.

"And you were here to break it up?" Matt asked skeptically. He didn't like how when anything was going wrong with Vicki, Damon showed up to bring her back.

"I just want to help," Damon told him.

"Well, maybe you can help by giving us a ride to the hospital," Matt told him. "I talked to Jeremy, he didn't give Vicki anything."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Damon said now.

"Why?" Matt asked in confusion, looking at Jade for support. If Vicki was a vampire now though, Jade knew the last place she should be was a hospital full of injured patients and blood bags for transfusions.

"She's not sick," Jade said, though that was a pretty far stretch since she didn't know exactly what was going on with her. "She's going to come out of it eventually, I think we should just wait it out."

"Are you serious?" Matt asked, like Jade had to be joking.

"If we go to the hospital with her like this, it's just going to bring more questions our way," Jade told him now. "I don't want you guys to get taken away from me too."

"I know," Matt said sympathetically, knowing the sheriff kept coming by because she had concerns. "It's not your fault though, and if she's sick-"

"You're both my responsibility," Jade stopped him. "So, it is my fault." She shook her head. "I think the best thing right now is to go about business as usual, which includes going into your shift this afternoon."

"Jade, I'm not-"

"Just listen to your sister," Damon told Matt now. Matt stopped, looking between his sister and Damon before shaking his head, grabbing his stuff and leaving the house for work. "It's not your fault," Damon told Jade now.

"It just looks like it's yours," Jade commented, leaving the bathroom to go back to Vicki's room. She was sitting on the bed while Stefan made sure all her blinds and curtains were shut, Elena looking on. "Elena, go home," Jade told her seriously.

"I can help," Elena said, with Stefan having told her a lot since she confronted him about what he was. She didn't want to leave Jade alone with three vampires, though what was she going to do?

"Go home," Jade repeated. Elena looked to Stefan, who nodded for her to go.

"I know that you're upset Jade," Stefan started out.

"Upset?" she interrupted him. "I just found out my ex is a vampire." She motioned at the bed. "My sister somehow is one, and I'm lying to my brother so he won't..." She noticed her hands were shaking. "Freak out like I am."

"We can tell you whatever you want to know," Damon assured her, keeping his distance because he knew she didn't want to be touched. Seeing her in this panic though, he just wanted to hold her and promise it was ok, even if things seemed like they were falling apart.

"How did this happen to her?" Jade demanded, looking at her sister who seemed just as worried, her emotions at an all time high.

"You remember before, when I gave you my blood?" Damon asked and Jade nodded. "It can heal people that are hurt. I..." He sighed. "I tried healing your sister last night, but she died."

"So, you _did_ attack her," Jade stopped him now and he was quiet. "Both times." He nodded silently.

"I didn't know she was your sister," Damon tried to explain that it was an accident. "I didn't know that she was there last night."

"And that makes it ok?" Jade snapped; Damon didn't say anything.

"If you die with vampire blood in your system," Stefan continued for Damon. "You'll come back as one."

"So, let me get this straight," Jade said, pacing the room. "On my watch, my sister died and then came back as a vampire." She bit her lip. "At least all Kelly did was disappear," she muttered.

"It's not your fault," Damon tried to tell her.

"No?" Jade asked. "Who followed me back here and started terrorizing the townspeople?" she asked sarcastically; Damon didn't respond. "And what happens to my sister now?"

"For now, we keep her inside," Stefan said now. "Away from people."

"And out of the sun," Damon added.

"Why?" Vicki jumped in. "You walk in the sun."

"We have rings for that," Damon showed his hand. "I'll work on getting you one. But, for now, no sun."

"Or people," Stefan reiterated.

"Why not?" Vicki complained.

"Did you miss how you almost mauled your sister just now?" Damon asked her. "As much as I hate to admit it, Stefan's right." He looked to his brother, then back at the Donovan sisters. "We have to teach you self control before we let you around anyone." He paused. "Including you Jade."

"You can't keep her away from me," Jade said to him, wanting to make sure her sister was ok after she felt she screwed up so badly.

"Did you miss the near mauling?" he snapped at her now, worried for her safety; she rolled her eyes. "Don't you think it's going to look weird when she doesn't show up to school or work? When Matt sees her hiding around the shadows in the house?"

"How long do I have to stay with you?" Vicki asked.

"Everyone's different," Stefan said, though it would be awhile.

"We'll say you left town," Damon said. "You come stay with us, we'll get you ring, we'll practice..." He trailed off, looking from Vicki to Jade. "What are you thinking right now?"

"That I can't fix this on my own," Jade answered. She didn't want to accept Damon and Stefan's help, but there was no way she could handle Vicki and this new situation on her own.

* * *

Stefan left to go see Elena, leaving Damon and Jade alone at the Donovan house. Vicki stayed upstairs in her room, growing more and more restless. Damon could tell that Jade didn't really want him there, they were hardly speaking, but he wasn't leaving her in the house alone with a newly turned vampire. Occasionally she would ask a question, but other than that they were mostly silent.

"When were you born?" Jade asked now, both of them sitting at opposite ends of the couch.

"1840," Damon answered. "I was twenty four when I turned, but-"

"You're over a hundred years old," Jade murmured to herself.

"Mhmm," Damon nodded and Jade rubbed her forehead; and she had thought Mason Lockwood was too old for her.

"How will you get Vicki a ring?" Jade asked.

"I know a witch that will be able to help," Damon assured her and Jade raised her eyebrows.

"Witches are real too?" Jade asked and he nodded. "Ghosts?"

"Afraid so," he nodded.

"Zombies?"

"Not that I know of," Damon half laughed.

"Werewolves?" Jade asked.

"Yeah," Damon nodded. "They're almost extinct though."

"Hmmm," Jade nodded now. "How..." She didn't know how to ask this. "How do you kill a vampire?"

"Ah, I'm not sure I want to tell you that," Damon joked and she gave him a look. "Wooden stake to the heart," he answered and she nodded. "What?" he asked, knowing she wanted to ask something.

"Were you ever going to tell me?" Jade asked now. "Or were you just going to turn me and let me find out that way?"

"No," Damon protested. "I wouldn't do that to you."

"Were you just hoping I would never figure it out?" Jade scoffed now.

"I was going to tell you," Damon told her honestly.

"But, you just decided to disappear instead?" Jade asked with raised eye brows.

"I can't explain it right now," Damon shook his head.

"Try me," Jade challenged him.

"Hey!" Vicki called from the upstairs hall. "Can you two do this later? I'm starving!"

"We'll be right back," Damon said, having left a cooler with a few blood bags in his car.

"We?" Jade asked.

"I'm not leaving you in the house with her," Damon said, to which she rolled her eyes, before getting off the couch to follow him outside. Opening the trunk of his car, she saw that he had a cooler that was filled with blood bags, the same that was used for transfusions where she worked.

"Is this why we've been so short at the hospital?" Jade asked him now, a little annoyed.

"You're going to have to start picking and choosing what you're going to get mad at me for," Damon commented, tucking a bag in the pocket of his jacket before leading Jade back up to the house. Going upstairs, they found the second floor to be completely silent, when Vicki had been pacing for hours. When they got to her room, they saw that it was because she snuck out the bedroom window once the sun went down. Jade couldn't even say she was surprised; she pretty much taught Vicki how to climb out her window, with Vicki's room having the easiest access to get in and out.

"Where do you think she went?" Damon asked.

"I have an idea," Jade said, holding up the plastic costume bag with the picture on the front. A few days before, she and Vicki had gone shopping for Halloween costumes and tonight was the school's Halloween party.

"She picked a vampire costume?" Damon asked.

"Maybe she's psychic too," Jade muttered. "C'mon, we better go get her."

"You're not coming," Damon stopped her in the doorway. "She's restless and hungry, she might not be able to control herself around you." He stopped and thought about it. "Again."

"Well, you'll be there," Jade pointed out. "Besides, what if she comes back and I'm home alone?" She knew that she would be able to get Damon that way. Reluctantly, Damon agreed to let her go to the high school with him to track Vicki down.

* * *

Jade and Damon were busy searching the dance for Vicki, though Jade would hide anytime she saw Matt coming and she realized he must have gotten out of work early for this. When Damon questioned her, she said she knew that Matt would worry if he saw her there, and that was the whole reason she was keeping the situation with Vicki from him. Damon told her that she was a good sister, but she wasn't so convinced. That was when Damon thought he heard something outside, ordering Jade to stay there before he sped off unnoticed. Jade was never good at listening though and ran off in that direction until she was close enough to hear screaming coming from behind the school.

Running outside, she saw what had happened. Vicki must have lost control again, attacking Jeremy and Elena. She wasn't sure in what order it happened, but Elena was holding her neck now and there was blood on her costume. Damon had Vicki around her waist, throwing her back away from them. Speeding over before Vicki could react, he snapped her neck and she fell to the ground.

"You killed her!" Jeremy was accusing.

"She'll be back," Damon informed him, marching over to where his brother stood. "_This_," he snapped, snatching the wooden stake out of Stefan's hand before throwing it far to the side. "Would have killed her."

"She attacked Jeremy and Elena," Stefan said like it was obvious, as if there was no other choice.

"Then do what I did!" Damon yelled at him. "She's still Jade's sister." He went over and scooped up Vicki's still limp body. "I'm not gonna stop helping her because there's one slip up." He looked his brother over. "If that was the case, I would have staked you decades ago."

"Stop," Jade jumped in now, noticed for the first time after all the chaos.

"I can take her to our house," Damon said, reminding her of the initial plan. "Start teaching her in the morning."

"I have to find Matt," Jade was shaking her head, walking away.

"Jade," Damon called after her.

"Take her, please," Jade told him. "Just let me deal with Matt." Jade was hardly able to handle the things happening around her, the day's events taking it's toll. She was crazy to think things could be simple like they were that afternoon; that was only the case if Vicki was going to be locked up forever, or worse killed. Jade went back into the school to track down her brother, finding him out in front of the high school, talking to Bonnie and Tyler. Walking up to him, she hadn't noticed that she started crying.

"Whoa, Jade," Matt said, walking away from his friends who looked on with concern. "What's going on, are you ok?"

"Vicki ran away," Jade lied, tears sliding down her cheeks.

"What?" Matt asked worriedly.

"She just took off," Jade wiped at her eyes. "It's my fault, everything with her, it's my fault."

"Hey, no it's not," Matt promised, hugging her. He had no idea what happened, the weight that Jade felt. She felt like she should have known about Damon, when really there was no way for her to. She was responsible for taking care of Vicki though, and look what happened to her. "Vicki's responsible for Vicki," Matt assured her, hugging her tight. "She'll be back by the end of the week, you'll see," he continued. "She never disappears for long."

**thanks for reading! :) really hope you liked it, let me know what you thought! more soon! :)**


	6. Homecoming

**thanks so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites! so glad you liked it, hope you like this! :)**

_Homecoming_

It had been a month since Vicki had turned and was staying with the Salvatores.

At first, Matt would try to call or text her. She never answered though and he eventually gave up, figuring she would come home whenever she was ready. With it just being the two of them now, it was a little crazier around the house for Jade and Matt. They worried for Vicki, or at least Jade put off the front that she was since she got to see Vicki every other day. The real source of the chaos though was that they were down a paycheck. It was just the two of them now, paying for the house, utilities, food.

"Maybe we should get an apartment," Matt said as Jade was running around that morning, the usual craziness before work setting in. At least it was Saturday and she didn't have to worry about Matt and school.

"What?" Jade asked, her mouth half full of a bagel she was trying to inhale. "Why?"

"We don't need the room for mom anymore," Matt observed; at this point, there wasn't much of a chance Kelly was coming back. "Vicki's disappeared for who knows how long." Jade hoped it wouldn't be much longer until Vicki was back. She was doing well with the things Damon was teaching her, knowing that her daylight ring was on the line. With everything changing around her, Vicki was eager to get back to her old life as best she could.

"It would be a lot cheaper," Matt finished off.

"Let me worry about that stuff," Jade told him. "You're the teen, I'm the adult."

"Barely," Matt commented, getting a look from his sister. "I can get more shifts at the grille if you want."

"You don't need to do that Matty," Jade said, tossing out the rest of her breakfast. "We're fine." Matt sighed, giving up the fight for now.

"Do you care if I drop you off at work?" Matt asked now, wanting his truck that day. "I have plans with Caroline this afternoon." In the last few weeks, he had started going out with Caroline, moving to get over Elena which made Jade happy.

"I got my car fixed," Jade shook her head, grabbing her car keys from the counter.

"Since when?" Matt asked skeptically; they didn't have the money for that.

"Since Damon fixed it yesterday," Jade shrugged, seeing that look on Matt's face. "What?" she asked in exasperation now.

"You don't think it's weird that he's hanging around so much?" Matt asked. Damon came over to the house a few times since Vicki ran away, and he knew that Jade was spending time over there, with Damon picking her up from work and then dropping her off at the house. What Matt didn't know was she was seeing Vicki at the Salvatore house.

"He's being nice," Jade brushed it off. With what was going on with Vicki, there was hardly room for her to think about a relationship with anyone, let alone a vampire. He wasn't just a vampire, he was the one that turned her sister. Even knowing all of that though, it was hard to ignore the butterflies in her stomach every time he looked at her. It was crazy how one guy could have that effect on her, especially after everything that happened.

"Maybe he just wants to sleep with you again," Matt commented in annoyance and Jade rolled her eyes at him.

"He isn't just some guy I slept with," Jade informed him. "We were serious."

"If you think he's so great, why'd you ever break up with him?" Matt asked now.

"Time for work," Jade told Matt now.

"I'm serious Jay," Matt said, following her to the front door. "I don't think he's a good guy." He shook his head. "I'll kill him if he hurts you," he said now.

"That's very sweet Matty," Jade told him seriously. "But, I'm a big girl. And it's ok!" She wasn't sure who she was trying to convince. "Everything is going to be fine." With that, she opened the door and saw someone struggling with their keys, a bag at their feet.

"Well, finally," she said, a bit annoyed. "Can't believe you changed the locks around here."

"Mom?" Jade asked with raised eye brows, Kelly walking right into the house like she owned the place.

"The one and only," Kelly commented, dropping her bag by the couch before waltzing into the kitchen. "Matty, could you take my bag please?"

"Ah, sure," Matt shrugged, giving Jade a confused look before taking Kelly's bag upstairs. Jade followed Kelly to the kitchen, where her mom already had her head in the freezer.

"You don't have anything to drink around here?" Kelly asked Jade, closing the freezer now.

"Water," Jade said sarcastically.

"I'm looking for something a little stronger than that sweetie," Kelly smiled at her.

"Well, Matt's too young," Jade listed off. "Vicki prefers pills anyway, and I don't drink anymore."

"Since when?" Kelly asked.

"Since I've been told I'm like you," Jade fake smiled back; Kelly rolled her eyes.

"Speaking of, where is your sister?" Kelly asked now, taking a seat at the kitchen table.

"She took off," Jade lied, lying becoming second nature to her now. "Guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree."

"I get it Jade, you're not happy to have me back," Kelly told her. It didn't surprise Jade that Kelly didn't give Vicki running away a second thought. "It's my first day back though, can we at least fake nice to each other?" She smiled, pushing out the chair next to her. "Sit, talk to me."

"I can't, I have work," Jade told her.

"Skip it," Kelly shrugged.

"I can't," Jade said.

"Fine," Kelly said, Matt returning now. He almost expected Jade to have thrown Kelly to the floor in a fight, she disliked their mom that much. They hardly got along when Jade was a teenager, but now that Kelly had walked out on Matt and Vicki, their relationship was more than strained. "I'll find out everything from Matt."

"Fine," Jade agreed through clenched teeth, leaving the house and slamming the door.

* * *

Jade was annoyed at every thing at work, snapping at anyone that tried to talk to her. She just wanted to get this day over with, though she wasn't sure what she was going to do when she got back to the house. There were a few scenarios of what she could do to get Kelly out of the house. Deep down, she wasn't sure she could throw Kelly out. After all, she had started to let Damon back into her life.

"Ah!" Jade jumped, Damon creeping up behind her at the hospital, pulling her into one of the side hallways. "I thought you were going to stop doing that!" Jade accused, pushing him a little.

"But it's so funny," Damon smirked at her; there were the butterflies. "Listen, I wanted to talk to you about Vicki."

"Is she ok?" Jade asked, worry hinting in her voice.

"Fine," Damon promised. "And, I finally met up with Bree, so I got her a daylight ring." He smiled at her. "I think Vicki can come home now."

"Not yet," Jade shook her head quickly and Damon looked at her in surprise.

"I thought you'd be happy," he said in confusion.

"No, I am," Jade said. "And I'm so glad she's doing well but..." She shook her head. "You said her emotions are going crazy right now, right? That she needs stability?"

"Yeah," Damon nodded. "The longer she goes, the easier she'll be able to handle-"

"My mother's back," Jade stopped him. "Who knows how long until she takes off again. It's always really hard on Vic..."

"I get it," Damon agreed now. "We'll hold off awhile, make sure Vicki's going to be ok, see what happens with your mom." Jade nodded appreciatively. "How are you?"

"What?"

"With your mom being back," he clarified.

"Annoyed mostly," she replied and he nodded.

"If anyone can handle it, it's you," Damon assured her, seeing how strong she really was over the last few weeks.

"We'll see," Jade rolled her eyes. "You might have another body to get rid of." Damon snorted a laugh. "Um...the sheriff isn't suspecting anything, right?"

"Not since Lexi," Damon promised her. Worried that the town council was close to figuring out who the vampires were, including Vicki, Damon made a move to frame another vampire for everything, killing her and earning the trust of the council. Stefan was furious as Lexi had been a friend of his, but Damon wasn't worried about anything else but making sure Jade and her family were ok, that they were taken care of.

"Trust me Jade," Damon told her.

"I do," she nodded and he smiled.

* * *

Jade went home after work, exhausted from her shift at the hospital. Matt had gone to work and left a note saying Kelly went with him, interviewing for the bartender position at the grille. Realizing Kelly might be serious about staying, Jade started debating about whether or not Vicki should come home. She missed her sister and knew that Matt did too, but it had only been a few weeks since she became a vampire; who knew how well she'd be able to control herself if someone wasn't there coaching her.

"Hello?" Jade answered her phone lazily, watching some re-run on tv.

_"Hey,"_ Damon said. _"You're going to want to come down to the grille."_

"...why?" Jade asked hesitantly.

She left the house immediately, going down to the grille. Damon said he had gone there to meet with his brother when he spotted Matt arguing with a woman at the bar. When he went over to see what was going on, he found out that it was Jade's mom. He realized that Jade wasn't kidding about her mom's reputation. She flirted with Damon and immediately offered him a shot, drinking with Jenna as well. When Jade got there, the three of them were sitting at the end of the bar together.

"Mom," Jade said seriously.

"Oh no," Kelly said, ducking her head behind Jenna. "It's my judgey daughter."

"I thought you came here for an interview," Jade said, ignoring the comment.

"Well, Roberta blew me off," Kelly shrugged, tossing back a shot.

"That's not surprising, considering you blew-"

"Ok!" Jenna interrupted now, stifling a giggle.

"Did you call her?" Kelly asked Jenna who shook her head.

"Seriously mom, Matt works here," Jade complained. "You can't just get hammered at the bar."

"Did he call you?" Kelly asked and Jade rolled her eyes, involuntarily looking to Damon like he could help her. "Wait," Kelly smiled, seeing how Damon looked at Jade. "Did you call my daughter?"

"Mom-"

"Kelly-"

"You did!" Kelly grinned. "Are you two together?"

"That's really not your business," Jade said and Kelly rolled her eyes, looking to Damon now.

"Are you her boyfriend?" Kelly murmured now, though she wasn't managing to be that quiet.

"Ah, not yet," Damon smirked, casting a glance at Jade who bit her lip, he hoped it was to fight off a smile. "I'm trying though."

"Well, try harder," Kelly told him, taking another drink. "Someone's gotta help her relax."

"Ok," Jade said, preparing to leave.

"You're so uptight honey," Kelly told her.

"Uh huh," Jade said, grabbing her mom's keys off the bar and handing her some cash. "This is for a cab ride only."

"Thanks mom," Kelly said sarcastically, placing the money in her purse. Jade left the bar now, giving up on getting her mom to leave and Damon went to follow her. "Hey," Kelly stopped Damon and he turned around. "Go get her." She grinned. "Make her smile."

"I'll try," Damon winked at her before heading out of the bar.

* * *

Damon caught up with Jade outside, where she asked if she could go see Vicki. Damon agreed that it was a good idea, knowing Vicki was getting tired of staying at the Salvatore house and really wanted to go home. Getting into her own car, she followed Damon out to the Salvatore boarding house. At first when Vicki was staying here, they had her staying downstairs. As she got better at controlling herself though, she moved upstairs to one of the guest rooms. It was hard, no doubt, especially with her addictive personality. She missed living with Matt and Jade though, she missed seeing Jeremy but was happy Damon compelled him to forget Vicki attacked him.

"Hey," Jade peeked her head into the guest room where Vicki was staying.

"Hey Jade!" Vicki smiled, surprised her sister was there. Damon came in close behind Jade, who sat on the bed with her sister. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Jade shook her head. "Damon and I were talking and...he got your daylight ring."

"Seriously?" Vicki smiled big, knowing what this meant. "Guys, I _promise_, I'm going to do so good." She looked at Jade. "He taught me how drinking and eating helps curb cravings, and how to erase people's memories so I don't get caught, but I'm just going to use bags from the hospital since-" She was ready to list off everything she learned so she could go home.

"No, I know," Jade nodded reassuringly. "Damon said you're doing a great job. I'm just worried..."

"Don't worry Jade!" Vicki said quickly. "I'll be so careful."

"I need to talk to you about something first," Jade stopped her and Vicki nodded. "Mom came back today."

"Seriously?" Vicki asked now.

"She's wasted at the grille right now," Jade rolled her eyes. "I know it's harder right now, with everything you're feeling, and I just want to make sure-"

"I won't let mom bug me," Vicki interrupted, giving Jade her puppy eyes. "Please, it's so boring here!"

"Hey," Damon faked offense.

"Stefan's boring," Vicki clarified. "And Damon's taught me everything. I miss Matty, and you. Besides," she continued now. "Mom and I barely bothered each other before." She smirked. "That was mostly you and her fighting."

"I just don't want it to upset you," Jade reasoned.

"If it starts to, I'll leave," Vicki promised. "I can't really learn how to control it until I get out there."

"Ah," Jade hesitated, looking at her sister who was pleading with her eyes, then to Damon who just shrugged like he thought Vicki would be all right. "...ok."

"Yes!" Vicki grinned, hugging her sister tight. "Thanks Jade, thanks, thanks, thanks!"

"Ahem," Damon joked, pulling Vicki's daylight ring from his pocket.

"Thank you Damon!" Vicki said now, getting up to hug him before taking her ring and putting it on. "Oh my God, this is the best! Thank you guys so much!"

"Get ready," Jade said, getting up from the bed now. "We can head home now, probably beat Matt and mom back to the house."

"Yes!" Vicki said happily, grabbing her bag and starting to pack. "Thank you guys! Ah!" She was so excited as she packed everything into her suitcase. "Damon, seriously, you're the best for teaching me this stuff," she said, stuffing some shirts into her bag. "He's the best Jade."

"Um, yeah I know," Jade agreed, glancing over at Damon.

"She should tone down eventually," Damon murmured quietly as Vicki kept bouncing around the room, packing her things away. "She's just really excited to get home."

"Well, she's not wrong," Jade half smiled at him. "Thanks for helping her."

**thanks for reading! :) really hope you liked it, more soon! :)**


	7. Ruined

**thanks so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites! :) and thanks for following/favoriting me! :) hope you like this update!**

_Ruined_

It had been a couple days since Vicki came home and things were going smoothly. Everyone was home, Kelly was trying to get a job and wasn't fighting with Jade nearly as much. Matt was getting along with Caroline and Vicki was seeing Jeremy, which Elena wasn't too happy about but she couldn't say much; after all, she was dating Stefan. Vicki hadn't had any kind of incident since she came home and was adjusting well. The only thing really bothering Jade right now was that she didn't know what to think about her and Damon. Given everything they had gone through in the last few weeks, she was happy that was her biggest problem.

"Something smells good in here," Jade commented as she came home, her mom and Vicki in the kitchen.

"We made dinner," Vicki grinned. She seemed so much happier these days and Jade couldn't help but wonder if it had to do with her transition. By turning her, did Damon manage to save her?

"We both felt bad for leaving," Kelly said, pulling the casserole from the oven. "So, we made you and Matty dinner."

"Ah, just for Jade," Matt clarified, coming down the steps now as someone knocked at the door. "I'm heading out." When he opened it, they saw that Caroline was outside waiting for him.

"Hi Mrs. Donovan!" Caroline greeted her. "Hi Jade, hi Vicki."

"Hi," Vicki and Jade both said, their mom just nodding.

"See ya!" Matt said, leaving the house with her. Kelly set dinner on the table, sitting down while Vicki grabbed plates and Jade grabbed glasses.

"Do we like her?" Kelly asked her daughters as they joined her at the table, referencing Caroline.

"I like her," Jade nodded. "Her mom's a pain in the ass, but she's nice."

"Ugh, don't get me started on Liz Forbes," Kelly muttered, taking a bite of her food.

"Agreed," Vicki rolled her eyes. "But, I like Caroline. Better than Elena."

"Definitely," Jade agreed with her sister.

"Aw, really?" Kelly asked curiously. "I always liked her."

"Elena's kinda..." Jade wasn't sure how to word it.

"Bitchy," Vicki offered and Jade fought off a laugh.

"Fine, fine," Kelly gave up and agreed with them. "So," she prepared to change the subject. "What are you girls doing this weekend?"

"I was going to hang out with Jeremy," Vicki shrugged and Jade didn't say anything, having no plans. "Why?"

"I ran into Richard Lockwood at the grille yesterday," Kelly explained. "He invited us to the Founder's Party this weekend."

"Ok, mom," Vicki said seriously, setting her glass down. "Were you two together or something?"

"Vic," Jade protested. It was something the girls speculated before, with Richard always being nice to Kelly and even nicer to Jade, Carol seeming extra snotty towards them. What if he was Jade's dad, but it could never get out? One topic Jade learned to not bring up a long time ago was who her dad was.

"Ah, no," Kelly laughed, finding it more amusing than anything. "I'm sure he's just being nice, since he knows Matty will be going with Caroline and Vicki will be with Jeremy." She smirked in Jade's direction. "And maybe someone will be going with a certain Salvatore."

"I'm sure I'll see him there," Jade shrugged. Something else she never talked about with Kelly was her love life, since Kelly was hardly ever in a position to give advice.

"He's cute," Kelly said. Jade was tired of hearing from her sister, mom, and friends about how cute Damon was. Yes, he was cute, he was actually more than cute. Being cute didn't change the complexity of their situation though. "And he really seems to like you."

"And he's here," Vicki smirked, hearing Damon on the porch before he even knocked.

"How'd you do that?" Kelly laughed as Jade went over to answer the door. The look on Damon's face made her uneasy.

"What's up?" Jade asked curiously.

"We need to talk," Damon told her, nodding for her to come outside.

"You're freaking me out," Jade accused, crossing her arms to hug her sweater closer as the cool night air hit. "What's going on?"

"I just came from the council meeting," Damon explained. "They're catching on to the blood bank shortages in other towns." He left out that his brother was the one that robbed those blood banks, given that he had started drinking human blood again. Normally, Damon would have been all for that, but now he had two vampires struggling with control in the middle of a town on a vampire hunt.

"They _know_?" Jade asked, keeping her voice low even though she was sure Vicki would hear anyway.

"They know there's vampires still around," Damon clarified, hoping their vampire problems would be over with the death of Lexi.

"What do we do?" Jade asked now. "No way can we go to this party this weekend."

"No, we have to," Damon insisted. "We have to keep looking as normal as possible."

"I don't know Damon," Jade said hesitantly. Vicki hadn't had any incidents yet, but that didn't mean she wouldn't slip up. Taking her to a crowded party full of founding families and, therefore, council members didn't seem like a good idea.

"If she starts avoiding these kinds of things, it'll look really suspicious," Damon reasoned; since everyone knew by now that Vicki and Jeremy were together, they expected her to be at these events now too. "The more we're out and around these people, the more they're going to trust us."

Jade knew that was what Damon was doing with the council, providing them with vervain and helping them in their vampire hunts. The more they trusted him, the less they looked at him. And if they trusted him, they'd believe it when he said he gave both Donovan girls bracelets with vervain to keep them safe from compulsion; he had given Jade one, though Vicki's was obviously vervain free.

"Jade," Damon got her attention as she was nervously contemplating their options. "It'll be fine, we have to go. I can find out more about what they know," Damon continued. "Ok?"

"Yeah," Jade sighed, giving in. "Yeah, all right."

* * *

Jade was so glad she wasn't a founding family member, otherwise she would have to have gone go to these events her whole life. Since Damon came back into her life though, she found herself at a lot of these things. Dressed in a simple black dress, she arrived at the party with her mom and sister; Matt had left early, going to pick up Caroline. Seeing Jeremy there, Vicki sped off happily with a grin on her face to hang out with him.

"Aaaand," Kelly said, dragging it out when she spotted Damon looking at Jade from across the room, though he was currently distracted by talking to Sheriff Forbes. "I'm gonna go drink by myself."

"Mom," Jade tried to warn but Kelly was already off. Sighing, she walked over in Damon's direction, but got cut off by Stefan.

"Hey," Stefan smiled, giving her a hug. "Jade's here." He pulled away from her. "Damon's going to be happy you're here."

"Um," Jade said in confusion, looking at Damon who came over now. "Is he drunk?"

"Oh, it's not a big deal," Stefan cut in before Damon could say anything. "It's just helping with the cravings, since I slipped."

"What?" Jade asked with raised eye brows.

"Ohh," Stefan said, his whisper slightly loud as he looked to his brother. "You didn't tell her, did you?"

"Good call," Damon said sarcastically.

"I'm gonna go..." Stefan said, trailing off as he held up his empty glass.

"When were you going to tell me?" Jade asked quietly, looking around to make sure no one was around to hear.

"I didn't want you to worry," Damon reasoned.

"Is that why the-"

"Damon," Liz interrupted. "Could I talk to you?"

"Sure," Damon nodded, turning to Jade as Liz left. "I'm gonna go find out more on what they know all right?" He took her hand, squeezing it. "Just relax, all right?"

"Mhmm," Jade nodded, unsure of everything as he left. Without much more of a thought, she followed Stefan's direction towards the bar.

* * *

"Hey Jade," Vicki said, coming over to her quickly. "Can I talk..." Jade turned to her, in the middle of taking a drink. "Oh my God, are you drinking?" Jade hadn't drank since she had come home from college to take care of Matt and Vicki. She knew that she got too out of control when she drank and she had to get it together if she wanted to be able to run things smoothly.

"It's _fine_," Jade assured her, setting her now empty glass down; it was one of several drinks she had since Damon disappeared. Matt wasn't around and Vicki hadn't been either; who knew where her mom was. Everything around her was putting her on edge and she just wanted to take it away. "What's wrong?"

"I guess Jer read Elena's diary," Vicki said quietly. "He knows and now he wants me to turn him." Jade covered her mouth to try to keep from giggling, but it didn't work. "Jade!"

"I'm sorry," Jade laughed. "It's not funny, I know."

"Come on," Vicki sighed, taking Jade's hand. "Let's go get some air."

Vicki lead Jade away from the crowd, heading over towards the balcony to get some air. Vicki figured this would be good since there were few people over there. Jade could get some air and hopefully sober up a little before going back to the party. When they got there though, Vicki realized this wasn't going to be helping Jade's stress. Stepping out onto the balcony, they got there in just enough time to see Damon snapping the neck of Elena's uncle before tossing him over the side. Satisfied with himself, Damon turned back to go into the party, stopping in his tracks when he saw two shocked faces.

"Jade, I-"

"Gimme," she took his drink out of his hand before turning and going back to the party.

"She's drinking?" Damon asked Vicki. It wasn't like he hadn't seen her drink before, he had gone to college with her. He knew since she came home though that she was trying to stop because she was afraid she was too much like Kelly that way. Without waiting for an answer, Damon caught up to Jade who was already setting her empty glass on an end table.

"You wanna slow down there?" Damon joked to her, but he was entirely serious.

"Please," Jade slurred a little. "I have a great tolerance."

"Ah, something's telling me it's gone down," Damon commented, holding a hand out to steady her. "I want to explain, about before."

"I feel like I should be more sober for that talk," Jade told him now.

"Guess so," he nodded. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," she assured him. "I'm just...on edge. But, you kept saying that everything was fine so..." She trailed off, thinking about something else. "Where's my mother?"

"Um, I don't know," Damon shrugged. "In her defense though, can't really say much about her drinking." Jade gave him a look.

"Help me find her?" Jade asked and he nodded, going to follow her. It didn't take long for them to find her though, hearing a crash in the next room. Most other people in the party went to investigate, seeing Matt and Tyler on the ground fighting, Kelly to the side begging for them to stop. The others were watching, not doing anything to stop it. Damon went over, having to drag Tyler off of Matt with some force, shoving him to the side.

"Matty, what happened?" Jade asked worriedly, kneeling next to him as he sat up slowly.

"Where's mom?" Matt asked first. His face was covered in cuts and she knew his eye was going to bruise. Jade looked around quickly, but Kelly had already disappeared. She noticed Tyler's father ushering him away and Vicki saying something to Jeremy about needing some air, figuring the blood was too much for her.

"I don't know," Jade said, helping him up as Damon came over now.

"You should get him home," Damon was saying. "I'll make sure Vic and your mom get home all right." He looked to Matt now. "Make sure you drive."

"Are you wasted?" Matt asked Jade.

"Shhh," Jade held a finger up to her lips and Matt shook his head.

* * *

Damon brought Kelly and Vicki home soon after Matt and Jade had left. He wanted to make sure that Jade was ok, so he came inside with them. He was happy that he did because things were quickly spiraling out of control. Matt must have told Jade what happened, how he caught Kelly and Tyler kissing and that was what sparked the fight, because Jade was busy taking things out of Kelly's room and throwing them down the stairs.

"Jay, seriously," Matt was saying gently, trying to get her to stop as he stood in the hallway.

"What are you doing?!" Kelly panicked, running up the stairs now. Damon was close behind her, seeing the mess at the bottom of the stairs.

"I want you to get out!" Jade shouted at her. "Matt told me what happened tonight mom." She shook her head. "I mean, jeez, Tyler's seventeen!"

"Jade, sweetie," Kelly said, her eyes welling up. "I know I messed up, but-"

"Messed up?" Jade laughed at her. "Messed up? You're a train wreck!" She tossed Kelly's suitcase down on top of the pile of clothes. "I was stupid enough to let you back here!"

"This is my house," Kelly argued with her now. "You're all my kids and you can't just throw me out!"

"Guess again!" Jade yelled at her. "Check the papers Kelly. It's _my_ house and they're _my_ kids." She pointed at the stairs. "Get out before I call the cops."

"Jade," Kelly said, reaching for her daughter who was walking away. Jade turned and took a swing at her mom, though she missed in her drunk state.

"Hey, whoa," Damon stepped in, grabbing Jade and bringing her back further away.

"Just _leave_!" Jade screamed, Damon pulling her into her bedroom.

"Matty," Kelly said, starting to cry. Vicki was there now, coming up the stairs. "If you...if someone just talks to her..."

"I think you should go mom," Matt stopped her, Vicki silently agreeing along side him. In Jade's room, Damon blocked the door to keep her from going out there and continuing to fight with her mom.

"I hate her," Jade was pacing her room. "I hate her, I hate her so much."

"I know," Damon nodded. "And she deserves it."

"How could she do that?" Jade asked. "How does she just ruin everything? Everything was fine, great even. And she just wrecked it, she always wrecks it." She motioned to herself. "I let her wreck it."

"She did this," Damon told her, coming over closer. "Not you." He grabbed Jade's shoulders, making her stop. "Quit it," he said, teasing her a little. "You're making me nervous."

"I'm sorry," Jade said in exasperation. "Thank you so much."

"For what?" Damon asked curiously.

"Helping," Jade told him. "With everything."

"Um, some of it was my fault," Damon pointed out.

"Yeah, but instead of run off you helped fix it," Jade explained; she half smiled. "You always take good care of me." They were quiet for a moment before she moved to kiss him. Damon kissed her back at first, wanting this since he came back, but then he remembered how drunk she still was, not to mention how upset she was about her mom.

"Jade," Damon pulled away.

"Ugh, don't say it," Jade said, her head falling against his chest. "I'm so pathetic," she mumbled into his shirt.

"No, you're not," Damon promised, hugging her tight. "You're fine." He kissed her head once. "Everything will be fine."

**thanks so much for reading! :) hope you liked it, more soon! **


	8. Wrong

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_Wrong_

Jade woke up the next morning, head throbbing. She realized this was what she missed least about drinking, the hang over being the worst part. No, the worst part was remembering what all she did. She had fought with Kelly and tossed her out, that wasn't so bad. Then, she remembered kissing Damon, which wasn't bad either. It was great actually and was something she wanted; too bad she went for it drunk and upset.

"Good morning," Matt greeted her with a smirk as she dragged her feet into the kitchen.

"Mmmm," Jade groaned, laying her head on the table.

"Made you breakfast," Matt said, setting some toast next to where her head was. "I gotta get to work," he said now, ruffling her hair. "Feel better."

"Mmmm," Jade groaned again. Soon after Matt left, she felt someone hugging her behind her chair.

"Morning!" Vicki greeted her happily before taking the seat next to her.

"Why are you both so happy this morning?" Jade complained, lifting her head up and picking at her toast.

"Um, because you were awesome last night," Vicki laughed, stealing a piece of toast.

"Then why don't I feel awesome?" Jade asked, massaging her temples.

"Probably the vodka," Vicki said lightly. "Seriously, Jade, you kicking mom out..." She grinned. "That was so cool. She was like 'they're my kids' and you were like 'no they're my kids'."

"I was there," Jade sipped water now.

"Really though," Vicki said seriously now. "No one ever fought for us before. Not dad, not mom." She smiled. "But, you did."

"Well, you're mine now," Jade said, squeezing Vicki's hand on the table. She nodded over at the couch as she let go of her hand. "Why are there sheets on the couch?"

"Damon stayed last night," Vicki grinned and Jade looked surprised. "He was going to see how you were this morning, but we needed um..." She bit her lip. "Breakfast."

"Gotcha," Jade nodded.

"So, you love him," Vicki said casually, unable to miss hearing them kiss last night. "He _clearly_ loves you." She smirked at her sister. "When's the wedding?"

"Bite me," Jade told her.

"Jokes you don't want to make to a vampire," Damon said, having let himself into the house. Jade blushed as Damon handed Vicki her blood bag, knowing he heard the conversation. "How are you feeling this morning champ?" Damon joked to Jade as he sat across from her.

"Sober," Jade pointed out. "So...we need to talk about yesterday."

"I'm gonna go," Vicki said, starting to stand up, thinking it was about Jade and Damon.

"Not that," Jade told her, Vicki slowly sitting back down; she noticed Damon's smirk. "About John Gilbert."

"Oh yeah," Vicki said like she was suddenly remembering. "I mean, not that anyone really likes Jeremy and Elena's uncle..." She trailed off, looking at Damon. "Speaking of, what do I do about Jeremy?"

"_Nothing_," Damon urged her, having talked about Jeremy wanting to turn after Jade had passed out last night. "The last thing we need is another new vampire," Damon explained, worried about her and Stefan now when it came to control. "Especially with the council so on edge."

"John knows we're vampires?" Vicki asked with worry.

"Knew," Jade corrected and Damon nodded. "Did he tell anyone else?"

"Doubtful," Damon shook his head. "I don't think we'd still be walking around after last night if anyone else knew."

"That's comforting," Vicki muttered sarcastically, taking a drink.

"We've just gotta keep blending in," Damon insisted. "I'll keep working with the council, you keep doing what you're doing," Damon told Vicki; he looked at Jade now. "She's doing really good."

"I know," Jade nodded. "What about your brother?"

"Ah," Damon hesitated. "Still a little up for debate, but he's better."

"Can I talk to you?" Jade asked now, then gave Vicki a look.

"Oh, _now_ I'm gonna go," Vicki half laughed, getting up now. She decided to go see Jeremy, given that he and Elena had just lost their uncle.

"Look," Damon said, getting up to follow Jade over to the sink to refill her glass. "With John _missing_," he said with air quotes. "I don't think there's much to worry about. Not if I stay friends with Liz Forbes anyway."

"I know," Jade nodded, sipping then setting her glass to the side. "I trust you."

"Then...what's the talk?" Damon asked and she half smiled, not able to believe she was going for it again.

"I'm sober now," Jade reminded him before kissing him again. She felt him smile against her lips before pulling her in tighter, continuing to kiss her deeply.

* * *

It was two weeks since the Founder's Party. With Jade and Damon back together, he spent most of his time over at her place. Matt was still skeptical of him, but happy for Jade. Vicki was ecstatic her sister finally got back together with Damon, still trying to keep Jeremy from wanting to turn. With Elena's help, Stefan was doing much better at controlling himself.

Everything seemed to be going well as Damon was keeping an eye on the council, listening for any plans that they had. It was Saturday, with Damon, Jade, and Vicki going into town for the parade Elena, Stefan, Jeremy, and Matt were all in. Afterwards, they were all gathered to watch the fireworks when Damon got pulled aside by Mayor Lockwood.

"Something wrong mayor?" Damon asked him curiously.

"It's happening tonight," Richard said. There had been a plan in the works to take care of the vampire problem once and for all; there were more vampires back in Mystic Falls than Damon had realized. Even within the council, there were only a select few who knew what the plan was and when it was taking place.

"What do you need me to do?" Damon asked now.

"I already sent Tyler home with Matt and Caroline," Richard explained. "The plan is happening tonight because we think the vampires are going to try to attack." He looked over where Jade was walking alone, waiting for Damon to come back. "Get her home, that way you're both safe."

"Absolutely," Damon nodded in agreement, heading Jade's way now. She didn't like the look on his face as he was walking over. "Where's Vicki?"

"She just went home with Jeremy," Jade shrugged, not thinking it was a big deal. "Why?"

"Good," Damon said, taking her hand firmly and leading her away from the crowd. "And Matt left with Tyler. We have to get out of here."

"What, why?" Jade asked in confusion.

"They're_ taking care_ of the vampire problem," Damon said, keeping his voice low. "So, we have to get out of here..." As he was saying this, he was still looking around for his brother; and that was when he felt it, the sharp stabbing pain in his head.

Whatever was going on, this must be how they were singling out the vampires. As he fell to the ground, he briefly saw Elena shuffling Stefan away from everyone while he held his head; he hoped they got away. His view of them was blocked though as Jade came falling onto the sidewalk next to him, holding her head and crying in pain. What was wrong with her? He reached for her, but felt things starting to go dark as he was injected with vervain.

* * *

"Damon, wake up!" Jade was frantically shaking him awake.

Groggy, Damon opened his eyes, though they immediately burned with smoke. They were in some basement, the other vampires were there as well, the founders setting the building on fire. He saw that Vicki wasn't there and neither was Stefan, and he was happy they got away. He noticed Richard there, wondering what happened to get him and Jade there. They weren't vampires, but what were they?

"You have to get out of here," Damon told her with a weak voice.

"Oh no," Jade protested, grabbing his hand and pulling with everything she had. "I'm not gonna leave you in here."

"Get out," Damon continued, nodding to the basement window.

"I can't," she said, struggling to hold his weight up against her. There was less smoke now, and suddenly Damon was lighter. That was because Stefan was lifting him away, helping him up the stairs while Jade ran up behind them. Bonnie and Elena were waiting outside the door, and Jade remembered that Bonnie was a witch and she must have been the one controlling the flames.

"Are you guys ok?" Elena asked worriedly, looking between them; Jade nodded, looking Damon over.

"What were _you_ doing down there?" Stefan asked Jade now in concern.

"I don't know," Jade said honestly, checking out Damon as he was standing on his own now, getting his strength back.

"We should get you both home," Stefan said now.

They started the drive back to the Salvatore boarding house, with Jade calling Vicki on the way to make sure she was ok. Whatever it was that affected the vampires, she must have been far enough away at Jeremy's house because she wasn't harmed by it. She tried to call Matt now, not that she was as worried because he wasn't a vampire. Then again, neither was she. Matt wasn't answering and she very quickly saw why as they came up on an accident on the road.

"Wait, wait, stop," Jade said quickly as she recognized the car and Elena stopped her car.

"Jade, I don't think you can-" Elena started off, but Jade was already out of the car.

"Matt!" she spotted him standing by an ambulance, rushing over to him.

"Jay," Matt said in surprised, hugging her quickly before letting her go; he was surprised she was there, but happy.

"What happened?" Jade asked worriedly; Damon had gotten out of the car and followed her over.

"I...I don't know," Matt shook his head. "Tyler started freaking out, hearing this noise or something..." Jade noticed Tyler passed out on the ground, the paramedics checking on him. What was going on with the Lockwoods tonight? "And they had to take Caroline to the hospital," he was going on.

"We can take you there," Damon offered now, leading Matt and Jade back to the car.

* * *

"Hey," Damon woke Jade up in her hospital chair.

They had all been waiting on news on Caroline's condition. Damon had spoken to Liz, who didn't even know about the plan that night much less that Damon and Jade got taken to the basement too. After talking to Elena and Bonnie, they agreed that it was a good idea to give Caroline some of Damon's blood to help heal her. Stefan had taken Elena home and Bonnie had gone; it was just her, Damon, and Matt at the hospital.

"Hm?" Jade asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

"C'mon," he said, helping her up. "I'm gonna take you and Matt home."

It was a long, awkward car ride home though Matt didn't know the reason. Jade and Vicki had contemplated him for awhile, but now with whatever was going on with Jade she wasn't so sure. Things were still quiet as Jade said goodnight to her brother, going into her room with Damon following her. She knew he wanted to talk about it, they hadn't said anything yet. The more she thought about it though, the more it panicked her.

"So," Damon said, sitting on her bed while she started to change out of her clothes. "Are we going to talk about what happened earlier?"

"What?" Jade asked, pulling a t-shirt over her head. "About how there's something wrong with me?"

"There's nothing wrong-" He tried to assure her.

"Sheriff Forbes said they used a device that was going to make the vampires drop," Jade argued with him, then motioned to herself. "Dropped, not a vampire." She shook her head. "And so did the mayor, and Tyler. What does that mean? Vicki always joked about him being my dad...I mean, is _that_ why Mason found me in Florida? Because he's my uncle?" That thought freaked her out as she had spent the better part of high school crushing on him. "And even if that's all true, it still doesn't explain what the hell-"

"Ok," Damon stopped her, getting up now and walking over to her. "The wake is the day after tomorrow, right?" She nodded. "Mason should be there, maybe he'll know something." She nodded in agreement, letting him kiss her once before hugging her. "We'll figure it out," he promised.

* * *

Jade paced the Lockwood house nervously, wondering where Mason was. She made polite small talk with Carol, giving her condolences. Damon was telling her to relax, that she was doing the pacing thing that started to make him nervous. Matt came by, telling them that Caroline was doing a lot better. She saw Elena there, wondering why she came alone. Spotting Mason in Richard's office with Tyler though, she didn't think much about it as she set out to get her answers.

"Hi Tyler," Jade said nicely. She had this pit in her stomach as she wondered if he was her half brother. Was she finally going to find out about her dad? "I'm really sorry about your dad."

"Thanks Jade," Tyler nodded at her.

"Um..." Jade wasn't sure where to go from here. "Can I talk to Mason for a second?"

"Ah, sure," Tyler shrugged, leaving the room.

"You ok Jade?" Mason asked, picking up on her weird energy as she shut the door to the office.

"I really don't have the patience to build up to this," Jade was telling him and he raised his eyebrows. "I know about this town, ok? I know about the council, I know about the vampires. I know what happened to your brother and I know what caused Tyler to wreck the other night." She took a deep breath. "And I know because the same thing happened to me." She motioned to herself. "Am I...related to you?"

"Sorry blondie," Mason teased her. It was true, he, his brother, and nephew all had dark features; most of the Lockwoods did. "Look, I kept an eye on you in Florida because we kind of have this sixth sense about other people like us." He shrugged. "That's probably why my brother wanted to watch out for you." Even if his brother didn't know about the family curse, the instincts were all there.

"What are people like us?" Jade asked with raised eye brows.

"You really wanna know?" Mason asked. "Because, when I tell you-"

"Just tell me," Jade interrupted impatiently.

"You're a werewolf," Mason told her.

**thanks for reading! :) really hope you liked it, please let me know what you thought! :)**


	9. A New Threat

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_A New Threat_

"What are you doing?" Stefan asked, finding his brother standing alone during the mayor's wake.

"Shhh," Damon shook his head, listening intently to Jade and Mason's conversation in the next room. Once she had caught a glimpse of Mason in Richard's office with Tyler, she took off in that direction. He knew she was going crazy trying to figure out what was going on with her, he was curious as well. The device was meant to effect vampires, so why did it hurt her, Richard, and Tyler? How were they connected?

_"What are people like us?" Jade was asking Mason now._

_"You really wanna know?" Mason asked back. "Because, when I tell you-"_

_"Just tell me," Jade interrupted. _Damon smiled. That was his girl, not waiting around to get what she wanted.

_"You're a werewolf," Mason said now._

"What the hell?" Stefan asked his brother, hearing everything as well. Damon shrugged, straining to hear more but neither of them were saying anything. He could only imagine the shock on Jade's face, feeling it himself. He had been around for decades and never saw a werewolf once, thinking they were extinct. Apparently though, he had been dating one this whole time.

_"Ok, so you've lost it," Jade scoffed at him. _Damon could hear her walking towards the door.

_"Says the girl sleeping with a vampire," Mason told her and she stopped. "When you think about vampires, it's not that crazy of an idea."_

"How does he know?" Stefan asked Damon in concern and Damon waved him off to continue listening.

_"If I'm a werewolf, then how am I not...changing on a full moon or whatever you call it?" Jade asked him._

_"You haven't triggered it yet," Mason explained._

_"How do you-"_

_"Can we not do this at my brother's wake?" Mason interrupted her and she sighed, knowing it wasn't appropriate but she was dying for answers. "What if I came over tonight?"_

_"I'm working night shift tonight," Jade shook her head._

_"Then, I'll come by the hospital," Mason offered and she still didn't seem ok. "Trust me, you are fine Jade. I'll come by and answer any question you want. Ok?"_

_"Yeah," Jade sighed. "Fine." _

With that, Jade left the office with Mason, both of them splitting off in different directions. Jade spotted Elena out back with Bonnie, wondering if Matt was with her. That was when Damon caught her arm and brought her to the side and Stefan came with them.

"So, I'm assuming you heard all that," Jade muttered to herself and Damon nodded.

"Look, he said it's ok," Damon said. He didn't know Mason, but from how close he guessed Mason and Jade's friendship used to be, he felt like he could trust him. "What do you want to do?" he asked her now. "Do you wanna stick around here, or do you want me to take you home?"

"I just wanna go home," Jade nodded now. She should at least try to sleep before her shift tonight, right? Between the events at the celebration the other night and what she just found out from Mason, she felt like she probably wouldn't get much rest, her mind already racing.

"Hey," Elena greeted them, coming over to join Stefan; she looked at them all in confusion. "What's going on, everything ok?" Jade was the one that looked confused now.

"Weren't you just out back, talking to Bonnie?" Jade asked curiously and Elena's face scrunched in confusion. "And did you change your shirt?"

"...no," Elena said, silently wondering if Jade started drinking again.

"Oh God," Damon threw his head back with a groan, realizing what was going on.

"I'll go," Stefan nodded at the doorway. "Get them out of here, all right?"

"Where's he going?" Elena asked with worry as Damon shuffled them outside, hoping too many people didn't notice Elena leaving.

"Katherine's here," Damon answered, getting them both into his car.

"Katherine, your _ex_?" Jade asked as he started the car and he didn't answer. "Oh, well this is good," she said cynically, though it clearly wasn't anyone's fault.

Since they had gotten back together, Elena had discovered more about her past and how she was related to Damon and Stefan's ex-girlfriend, the one that had turned them into vampires. She wasn't just related to Katherine though, she looked exactly like her. Sure, Jade thought it was weird, but she was too busy with Vicki to really care that much. It seemed that Katherine wasn't one that would let herself be uncared about.

"Just more stuff blowing up in our faces," Jade muttered.

* * *

"We're not telling Matt," Jade was arguing with everyone later. After Stefan's brief encounter with Katherine at the Lockwoods, he came over to the Donovan house with nothing but bad news. She was seemingly there to do nothing but stir up trouble for Elena, which lead to trouble for everyone around her. Right now, it was the Salvatore brothers, Elena, Vicki, and Jade at the house and they were all discussing what to do about their current situation.

"What if he invites her in here, thinking she's Elena?" Damon reasoned gently. He knew that talking to Matt about the truth was a touchy subject, especially now since Jade found out what she was. "Even if she's still crazed about Stefan, she's still not going to be too happy I've moved on either. I don't want her to hurt you."

"Aren't vampires supposed to be scared of werewolves?" Jade asked sarcastically, sitting down on the couch with her sister now while the other three continued to stand.

"That's just a full moon," Stefan said and she gave him a look.

"Look, I'd rather know more about what's going on with me before we start spilling an secrets to Matty," Jade reasoned now. "Does that sound ok?" She said, directing it mostly at Damon. Vicki wasn't too sure yet about telling Matt about her either, and Elena was still busy keeping secrets from everyone else so she couldn't say much.

"Whatever you want Jade," Elena nodded, knowing what it was like to keep all those secrets, to want to keep someone safe. She left with Stefan and Vicki left soon after to find Jeremy. Damon offered to stay with Jade for awhile and she accepted, with him following her up to her room so she could sleep before work. With thoughts of vampires, werewolves, and one crazy doppelganger though, she was hardly doing much sleeping.

"It'll be fine," Damon said, moving so he could turn on his side to face her.

"You say that like you've dealt with this before," Jade commented casually.

"I've dealt with Katherine before," Damon shrugged. "She's no picnic, but we'll do what we have to." He took her hand now. "I'll keep you safe." Jade half smiled, still thinking about what Mason had said.

"What about what's wrong with me?" she asked now.

"For the last time Jade Donovan," he said, a teasing tone in his voice. "There is nothing wrong with you." He kissed her forehead. "If there's something wrong with you, then there's something wrong with all of us."

"Yeah?"

"None of us are normal," Damon shrugged. "You're talking to a decades old vampire here."

"I guess so," Jade bit her lip to keep from laughing; he smiled, seeing her smile.

"Do you want me to come tonight?" Damon offered and she shook her head.

"I think Mason wants to talk just us," Jade explained and he smirked at her.

"Should I be jealous?" he joked.

"Extremely," she rolled her eyes, then made a face. "Do you think I'm a Lockwood?"

"Mason says no," Damon shrugged. "Have you ever had that wolf sense he was talking about?"

"I don't know," Jade sighed. "I mostly just had a huge crush on him in high school..."

"Ah, so I should be jealous," Damon said, grabbing her around her waist.

"Damon!" she giggled, trying to get away as he tickled her.

* * *

Jade got to the hospital once visiting hours were well over and the other nurses were preparing to leave. On her floor, there was only one nurse over night. The floor was quiet as she peaked into the rooms to check on everyone. She stopped to check on Caroline last. After trying to wake her without success, Jade gave up and figured she was out for the night, turning to go back to the desk. When she saw Mason standing behind her, she jumped.

"Jeez!" she complained, shoving him as he laughed at her. "People have to stop doing that to me," she grumbled to herself, with Mason following her over to the nurse's station.

"Sorry," he chuckled, sitting down with her and she immediately got serious.

"So...what you said before..."

"About you, being a werewolf?" Mason asked and she made a face.

"You just know that about me?" she asked curiously and he nodded.

"Just kind of an instinct," he nodded, but she could tell that there was something else.

"You're positive I'm not a Lockwood?" she asked; he nodded again.

"My brother triple checked," he assured her. "I guess him and your mom did use to have a thing, but she wasn't living in Mystic Falls when you would have been conceived. Plus, there's DNA-"

"I get it," she interrupted him and he gave her a curious look.

"You seem disappointed," Mason said, then he smirked at her. "It would certainly make you having a thing for me less weird."

"Ok, one," Jade laughed. "I didn't know you knew about that." He laughed now too. "And, two..." She trailed off as he looked at her expectantly. "Never mind."

"What?" Mason insisted. "You can tell me."

"It's stupid," Jade waved it off. "It's just...I wanted to have a face for my dad, you know? I mean, Matt and Vicki's dad was a dick but they at least know what he looks like. They'd know him if they saw him on the street."

"Well, he's missing out on knowing you," Mason told her and she smiled appreciatively.

"Ok, off from the dad issues," she shook her head with a small laugh. "Onto the...werewolf issues."

"You have no issue," Mason promised. "As long as you don't trigger it, you'll never have to worry about turning."

"You've turned?" Jade asked and he nodded. "Does it hurt?"

"Like hell," Mason admitted.

"How do you trigger it?" Jade asked curiously.

"You really wanna know?"

"It's why I asked," she shrugged. "Not much else is going to surprise me at this point," she added.

"You have to kill someone," Mason told her and she did look surprised.

"You killed someone?"

"It was an accident," he said. "A fight that got out of hand."

"How do you deal with it?" she asked now.

"Lock myself away, so I don't hurt anyone," he answered. "Once you turn, there isn't much control."

"Well, how..." Jade started, but stopped when she saw Caroline coming out of her room. "Caroline, what are you doing?"

"Where's my mom?" Caroline asked curiously.

"Um," Jade said, checking the visitor's log. "She left after dinner with Matt, then Elena came to visit you."

"I thought that was a dream," Caroline murmured. "She said her name was Katherine or something..."

"Must be on the good stuff, huh Forbes?" Mason said of her medication, not catching Jade's alarmed look.

"Guess so," Caroline shrugged. "Anyway, I'm starving."

"We won't have anything till breakfast," Jade told her.

"I'm _hungry_," Caroline told her, seeming angry.

"I'll go downstairs," Mason told them both. "I saw a vending machine. Are chips ok?"

"Anything, I'm starved," Caroline said.

"Thanks," Jade said to Mason before turning back, but Caroline had disappeared. "Wait."

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"Something's wrong," Jade said, going down the hall and he followed. She noticed one of the doors was open and went in, seeing Caroline staring at the patient's blood transfusion. "Caroline."

"What?" Caroline snapped, turning to look at the two of them.

"What are you doing?"

"I...I don't know," she shook her head, seeming confused now.

"C'mon," Mason nodded. "You should be in bed." Mason and Jade lead Caroline back to her hospital room, closing the door once she was in her bed. "That was weird," Mason commented as Jade listened at the door. "What are you..." Jade opened the door again and Caroline was sitting on the floor, drinking out of the blood transfusion bag.

"Oh my God," Jade gasped.

"I'm sorry!" Caroline said, dropping it. "I...I don't know what's wrong with me..."

"She's a vampire?" Mason asked.

"Vampire?" Caroline started to panic.

"As of last night, no," Jade said, going to kneel next to Caroline.

"What should I..." Mason started off.

"Just call Damon," Jade tossed her phone at Mason. As he left for the hall, Jade turned back to Caroline.

"What...what's going on with me...why was I..."

"Caroline, it's ok," Jade soothed, trying to keep her calm. "Do you trust me?"

"Uh huh," Caroline nodded, though her voice was shaky.

"Ok, well we'll get Damon and Stefan here," Jade assured her. "They'll know what to do." _And how to explain_, she silently thought.

* * *

Damon was sound asleep at the boarding house after a long debate with Stefan about how to deal with Katherine. He said that they should ignore her, but Stefan was afraid would make her react. Damon actually hoped for that because that would draw her out; he'd kill her before anything happened to Jade, or her siblings for that matter. Hearing his phone, he woke up and saw that it was Jade, smiling as he answered.

"Miss me?" Damon asked, yawning.

_"Dearly,"_ Mason said sarcastically and Damon sat up.

"Is Jade all right?" Damon asked quickly.

_"Well, I just left her with Sheriff Forbes' newly turned vampire daughter,"_ Mason told him, standing out in the hall and staring at Caroline's door, hearing Jade trying to calm her. _"So, you tell me."_

"Caroline?" Damon asked in confusion; that was when he remembered that he gave her his blood to heal her. But when did she die. "Katherine," Damon grumbled.

_"What?" _Mason asked, not hearing him.

"Nothing," Damon got out of bed now. "Just tell Jade I'll be right there."

**thanks for reading! :) really hope you liked it, please let me know what you thought! more soon! :)**


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